The Game Making Baseball Fans Go Bananas

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s a new game selling out stadiums around the country: banana ball. The game’s founder, Jesse Cole, describes how he got started. And WSJ’s Jason Gay watched a game to see what Major League Baseball – and other pro sports – can learn from banana ball’s fan-first approach. Jessica Mendoza hosts. Further listening: - NCAA President on New Era for College Sports - How Parlays Became the Biggest Bet in Sports - The Biggest Trade in Sports Wasn’t an Athlete –– It Was a TV Show Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here to honor America with the singing of tonight's national anthem.
0:09.6	It was a Friday night in Baltimore, shockingly temperate.
0:14.6	It was the perfect night for a ballgame.
0:16.9	Last weekend, my colleague Jason Gay caught a game at Camden Yards.
0:20.9	That's the home of Baltimore's Major League Baseball team, the Orioles.
0:24.9	The place was completely packed.
0:26.5	It felt more like a party than any baseball game I'd ever been to.
0:30.8	And it really delivered on what the phenomenon has been.
0:36.5	The phenomenon Jason was there to see wasn't the Orioles.
0:40.7	It wasn't even really baseball.
0:42.7	Jason was there for Banana Ball.
0:44.9	Banana Ball, taking America's favorite pastime to new and often ridiculous heights.
0:50.6	The wildest thing in sports today.
0:52.9	It's part baseball, part big top, and nonstop fun.
0:57.1	And just for the uninitiated, what is Banana Ball?
1:01.1	Could you describe it?
1:03.1	Banana Ball is a fast-paced, circus-like, short attention span, attack on your senses. It is really all about entertainment
1:15.4	maximization at all times. And it is an answer to anybody's lament that baseball has become
1:23.7	bored. Banana ball is a lot like baseball. There are pitchers and batters, infielders and outfielders.
1:31.3	But the players do more than just play ball.
1:34.3	They wear crazy costumes.
1:36.3	They cartwheel and dance and perform all kinds of tricks.
	...

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