Since the Savannah Bananas took the field for the first-ever game of Banana Ball in June of 2020, the traveling show has taken the sports entertainment world by storm. Banana Ball, a close approximation of baseball with circus tricks and performance art mixed in, has become such a phenomenon that a recent live unveiling of the team’s 2024 schedule at Grayson Stadium in Savannah was streamed to tens of thousands of viewers online.
As Banana Ball has grown, so has the number of teams playing it. Shortly after the Savannah Bananas started playing, the Party Animals debuted as their alter egos and traveling foes. And this week, Banana Ball unveiled a third team, the Firefighters.
The Firefighters branding was created by Dan Simon of the Louisville-based design firm Studio Simon, which also created the Savannah Bananas identity. The primary logo features a burly, mustachioed firefighter wielding a pair of baseball bats as axes. The cap logo is a letter F created by an axe and a yellow baseball with a trail of flames. The prominence of the color yellow in this brand, according to Simon, is meant to evoke the reflective gear worn by firefighters.
The Bananas and Party Animals have distinct personalities as teams, and it remains to be seen how this new team will be seen. After the astounding success of the Bananas, Simon has an idea that wherever it ends up will be good.
“Everything that Jesse Cole, team president Jared Orton, and the other uniquely creative minds there in Savannah touch seems to turn to Bananas Gold,” he said.
The 2024 Banana Ball World Tour, which for the first time will include Major League Baseball stadiums, will begin February 8, with the first appearance by the Firefighters scheduled for May 30 at historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia.
