Banana Ball delivers ‘must-see’ spectacle for record Wichita crowd
Banana Ball did not wait for the first pitch to introduce itself to Wichita.
It was already spilling out of Equity Bank Park hours before 7 p.m. Thursday — in the fans lined up outside the gates, in the merchandise tents humming with activity, in the music and games around the ballpark, in the kids wearing Banana Ball gear and leaning over railings hoping for a wave, an autograph or even just a look from one of the players.
By the time 12,000 fans filled the downtown stadium for the largest crowd in Equity Bank Park history, the night already felt less like a baseball game with extra entertainment and more like a traveling show that happened to have a baseball diamond in the middle of it.
Then came the Dalmatian retrieving bats. The shirtless firefighters dancing on dugouts. The catcher in a fur coat lip-syncing “I’m Just Ken.” The slip-and-slide home run celebration. The stadium-wide singalongs. The fire shooting into the sky. And a finish that gave the actual game just enough drama to matter.
The Loco Beach Coconuts beat the Firefighters 3-2 in the first Banana Ball game ever played in Wichita, but Thursday night was never going to be judged by a final score.
It was judged by whether a sellout crowd left feeling like the show was worth the hype.
“If people leave happy,” Coconuts slugger Dane Tofteland said, “we did our job for the night.”
Judging by the fans who lingered afterward for a postgame concert, autograph session and meet-and-greet in the outfield pavilion, the Coconuts and Firefighters did their job in Wichita.
The crowd of 12,000 surpassed the previous Equity Bank Park attendance record of 10,442, set for a Wichita Wind Surge game on Sept. 16, 2023. And it was not a one-night fluke. Tickets for the three-game Wichita stop were released through a lottery system and were essentially gone as soon as they became available with sellout crowds also expected for Friday and Saturday’s 7 p.m. shows. Banana Ball promises a different show each night, meaning some of Thursday’s acts and characters will return, but the next two Wichita crowds will not see an exact replay.
For Wind Surge general manager Matt Hamilton, Thursday night was proof of what the downtown ballpark can be for Wichita when it is used as more than a minor-league baseball venue.
“This was the dream when we started to see this many people in the ball park,” Hamilton said. “It’s all about just having fun and getting families together to do something outside of the norm. Anytime we can get this many people into the stadium is a positive and it shows people just how much fun baseball can be.”
Banana Ball will never be for every baseball purist. It moves too fast, bends too many rules and refuses to let the game breathe in the way traditional baseball fans are used to.
But anyone who came to Equity Bank Park expecting only gimmicks missed the point.
There was real baseball inside the circus, too.
Tanner Allen opened the game by ripping a line drive off the right-field wall. Coconuts shortstop Peyton Chatagnier later snagged a hard-hit grounder up the middle, stepped on second and fired to first for a double play that would have played in any ballpark. And when Chatagnier drove in the game’s first run with a sharp line drive down the left-field line in the second inning, naturally, a choreographed dance followed at home plate.
That was the rhythm of the night: a baseball play, then a performance. Sometimes, they were impossible to separate.
In the third inning, Coconuts catcher Ashby Vining appeared on the video board inside the dugout wearing a fur coat with no shirt underneath. He lip-synched “I’m Just Ken” from the “Barbie” movie, executed about a minute-long strut toward the batter’s box and then turned on a fastball for an RBI single.
“I don’t think I’ve ever got a hit in a fur coat before,” Vining joked afterward.
Vining said he was more nervous for the walk-up performance than the at-bat. Earlier in the day, he had practiced the lip-syncing, the pacing of the walk and the timing of the whole bit to make sure the moment landed.
Then he nailed the performance and got the hit.
“It’s a lot on your plate, but it’s kind of like baseball: you’re going to fail,” Vining said. “But you just keep working and when you kill one thing, you build off that. It’s just like competing. You’re just out there competing and having a good time.”
The Firefighters had their own steady stream of entertainment, led by the “Calendar Crew,” a group of shirtless firefighter performers who danced on top of the dugout, moved through the stands, posed for pictures and helped keep the crowd engaged even when the ball was not in play.
Between the second and third innings, the Firefighters brought a young boy and his father onto the field and gave the boy a choice: take home memorabilia or spray his dad with a fire hose.
He picked the hose. Every time.
That kind of fan involvement was built into nearly every part of the night. When outfielders caught balls, they ran to the fence to interact with kids. Players signed autographs during and after the game. Fans were not treated like background noise. They were part of the production.
Firefighters left fielder Noah Bridges said that with so much of the show centered around home plate, he tries to give kids sitting in the outfield their own personal experience. Sometimes, that means asking a young fan to toss him a glove, using it for an inning and then returning it with a memory attached.
“Those are just small things that I can do, but for a new face, it’s huge,” Bridges said. “It’s not a big deal to me, but those little things are so appreciated because a new crowd has never seen it before. So little things go a long way for a new crowd.”
There was a stadium-wide singalong to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” thousands of phone lights glowing during “Lean on Me” and a live performance from Sam Tinnesz, who sang “Legends Are Made” before the ninth inning.
The game also paused for community moments, including a Bananas Foster recognition of the Allen family, a local foster family, and a firefighter-of-the-night tribute to Wichita battalion chief Kelly Ross, a 30-year veteran.
For Haysville teacher Kristina Shirley, who brought her family and children, the appeal was that the night never forced families to choose between watching the game and keeping kids entertained.
“It was a really good time,” Shirley said. “I enjoyed being able to sit and watch a fun game and let my kids roam free. There was always something going on, so they loved it.”
That was also the draw for Greg Marx, who drove more than nine hours from Clark, South Dakota with his son and daughter to experience Banana Ball in person for the first time. The family had watched clips online and heard from friends that the show was worth seeing, so they made Wichita part of a family trip that was scheduled to continue Friday with another Banana Ball game in Tulsa.
“I’m 37 and I think I was just as excited as my 7-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son,” Marx said. “It was a blast from start to finish. There was never a dull moment. I don’t know how else to explain it other than you’ve got to just come and experience it. It’s must see. “
The trick plays helped keep that pace alive.
Firefighters first baseman Mason Maxwell caught a throw to first behind his back without looking in the third inning. Firefighters third baseman Logan Lacey made a behind-the-back catch on a high pop fly in foul territory past the third-base line in the eighth.
The Coconuts saved perhaps their best trick-play sequence for the seventh inning. Sal Jacobo fielded a hard-hit ball at second, shuffled it through his legs and fired to Chatagnier covering the bag. Chatagnier repeated the move before throwing to first, where Jordan Brewer finished the play by catching the ball between his legs. It was just the fourth time in 373 Banana Ball games where a triple trick-play was recorded.
The loudest baseball swing of the night belonged to Tofteland, who turned on a hanging breaking ball in the seventh inning and launched it into the concourse beyond the 340-foot wall in left field. As he rounded the bases, the Coconuts rolled out a slip-and-slide leading to home plate.
Tofteland launched himself onto his stomach and slid across the plate as the crowd roared.
But when Tofteland talked afterward, his favorite part was not the home run or the slide. It was what came next.
“My favorite part is interacting with the fans after the game,” Tofteland said. “I like asking them what their favorite part of the night was, did you get any good snacks. I’m a big food guy, so I like to hear what people ate at the game.”
Banana Ball media relations representative Sam Bauman said the organization’s goal is to break down the invisible wall that usually separates athletes from fans.
“I remember going to sporting events as a kid and if one of the players even looked at you, that was something you were going home with,” Bauman said. “That’s what we try to do with Banana Ball, where a wall is broken and a player is not only going to look at you, but he’s going to come say hi and come ask to play catch or even hop in the stands. We hope these kids and these fans take home with them some lifetime memories.”
The actual game had its own Banana Ball twist.
Unlike traditional baseball, the final score was not based on total runs. Teams earn points by winning innings and the Coconuts and Firefighters were tied 2-2 in inning points. The difference was the Equalizer Point, which went to the Coconuts after they won the trick-play count, 7-5.
That gave the Coconuts a 3-2 lead entering the final inning and they protected it in the bottom of the ninth after the Firefighters put runners on first and second with no outs. The Coconuts recorded three straight outs to close out the first Banana Ball game in Wichita history.
Then they danced at home plate.
“We pride ourselves as being the greatest show in sports,” Vining said. “That’s what we came here to do. We’re going to put on a good show and be a fan-first show. And I’m about to go meet all of these awesome fans and take pictures and sign everything I can.”
Banana Ball’s first night in Wichita came with a record crowd, a sellout show and two hours that gave fans almost no reason to look away.
The Coconuts won the game.
The show won the night.
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