BOSTON — The Savannah Bananas made one of their most iconic visits yet on their tour, making a stop at Fenway Park to add another intriguing baseball chapter in the city.
The Bananas visited Massachusetts last summer with a stop in Brockton at Campanelli Stadium.
For Fenway Park, however, the Bananas made sure to turn their performance up a notch.
Here are five takeaways as the Bananas made their Fenway Park debut:
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Party Starts Before First Pitch
Savannah advertised for the game at Fenway Park to begin at 7 p.m. ET.
The party at the park, however, begins far before that.
As fans filed into the stands from around 5:30 p.m. ET on, here are just a few of the highlights of pregame festivities going on inside Fenway Park:
— Plenty of dancing.
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— Players standing on the Green Monster.
— A singing princess.
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— A ceremonial first banana toss instead of a first pitch.
— The Party Animals entering from the Green Monster.
— The Savannah marching band parading the warning track.
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— Savannah performers balancing baseball bats and ladders on their heads.
Stars Shine
A trio of Red Sox champions returned to Fenway Park to get involved in the action.
Jonathan Papelbon, Mitch Moreland and Jonny Gomes all traded in their Red Sox uniforms for Bananas’ yellow fits on Saturday night.
Former Boston southpaw Bill “Spaceman” Lee also took the mound once again at Fenway Park.
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Commercial Entertainment Breaks
At the end of each half inning, there are no boring commercial breaks or any stoppage in eye-catching acts.
In between innings, on-field activities included a band performance, flexing contests with fans, baby races, and, yes, more dancing. The end of the third inning also paid tribute to veterans in attendance. Players saluted the crowd on the field in an extended gesture.
Energy even remained high in between pitches with songs and commercial jingles playing for fans to sing along to.
Whole New Ballgame
The Bananas play on the foundation of baseball and build from there.
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That all starts with them playing their game with a two-hour limit and yellow baseballs, obviously to match the banana theme.
The game created a number of highlight plays, from back-flipping catches in the outfield to infielders lying down to snag pop-ups, players pitching with astronaut helmets, and batters circling the bases when a walk would usually ensue. The fifth inning even featured the Bananas sending a batter to the plate on stilts.
There are outs, by the way, to keep the game on schedule. That responsibility falls on a crew of dancing umpires. Runs are recorded in innings, though points and trick plays are also accounted for on the scoreboard.
Full Fenway
A sold-out crowd created quite the image at Fenway Park, filling the stands of the Boston ballpark to capacity as fans filed in to witness the Bananas’ debut at Fenway Park.
Unfortunately for fans who missed the Savannah Bananas at Fenway, it was their only trip to New England.
Featured image via Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News/USA TODAY NETWORK Images
