New York has the Yankees. Atlanta has the Braves. Savannah has the...Bananas? The Savannah Bananas, the city’s beloved collegiate Coastal Plains League team, are the just the latest in a long line of baseball teams that have made a home in Historic Grayson Stadium.
Over the decades, Grayson Stadium has been the home field for the minor league affiliates of the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, and Atlanta Braves. Originally called Municipal Stadium when it opened in 1926, Grayson Stadium is the oldest continuously running minor league ballpark in America and still retains a lot of its old-fashioned charm (like a hand turned scoreboard).
Many of the greatest ballplayers of all time have hit Grayson Stadium’s field. In 1927, Lou Gehrig played an exhibition game there. Then in 1935, Babe Ruth visited the field to play the local Georgia Teachers College. In 1959, Mickey Mantle played at Grayson Stadium when the Yankees and Reds played an exhibition game. Other legends like Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, and Ted Williams have played at Grayson Stadium. And although it didn't count towards his stats, home run record holder Hank Aaron knocked one out of this park, as well.
In 1951, Jackie Robinson became the first black player to break the color barrier at Grayson Stadium when the Dodgers played the Phillies in an exhibition game. Two years after this milestone the Savannah Indians, along with the rest of the Southern Atlantic League—or Sally League—finally integrated.
The most unusual celebrity to visit Grayson Stadium was comedian Sasha Baron Cohen’s Borat in an episode from the first Season of Da Ali G Show. Borat, on a mission to learn about America’s pastime, attended a Savannah Sand Gnats game where he hilariously treated the unsuspecting crowd to his overly long rendition of the Kasakhstan national anthem and then visited the (naked) Sand Gnat players in the locker room shower after the game. To Savannah’s credit, the team and fans were incredibly hospitable and friendly to Borat.
Savannah may have lost their minor league team a few years ago when the Sand Gnats moved away, but the Savannah Bananas have taken up the baseball mantle in grand fashion, winning the Coastal Plain League championship in their inaugural season and regularly selling out tickets, a feat rarely achieved by Savannah’s previous minor league teams.
The Bananas have broken attendance records thanks to excellent promotion, dancing players, and a fun, family-oriented atmosphere at every game. Team owner, Jesse Cole, is at every game wearing a yellow tuxedo and top hat, hyping up the crowd like a circus ringleader. The Bananas, along with the enduring legacy of Grayson Stadium, are making sure that baseball remains America’s pastime...at least in Savannah.
Christopher Berinato is the author of Secret Savannah: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: That’s So Savannah: Grayson Stadium hosted some of the greatest baseball legends of all time
