Savannah Bananas’ ballpark, 99-year-old Grayson Stadium, gets face-lift

SAVANNAH — Move over, Cher. When it comes to late-in-life cosmetic improvements, the Savannah Bananas’ 99-year-old home ballpark, Grayson Stadium, is strutting its renewed beauty.

The Bananas debuted the new aesthetic in their 2025 season-opening home stand this past weekend, the first of 30 games scheduled for a ballpark where Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron have played over the last century.

Not that those legends would recognize the once-drab yard, with its new high-definition videoboard in center field, programmable LED “dancing lights” system and artificial turf playing field. Or the Bananas’ peculiar brand of baseball, which is part game, part dance troupe floor show with dancing umpires, stilt-walking players and other gags.

The improvements to the city-owned facility, funded in part through $3 million in penny sales tax revenues, is the latest and most extensive face-lift made by the owners of the 9-year-old baseball franchise, Jesse and Emily Cole. The Coles nearly went bankrupt in their early years in Savannah only to build the Bananas into a Harlem Globetrotters-like phenomenon that today plays before sellout crowds at major league stadiums, including March dates at Atlanta’s Truist Park.

Credit: Sarah Peacock

Credit: Sarah Peacock

Jesse Cole said he feels an obligation to make Grayson the “best it’s ever been” as the ballpark’s 100th anniversary nears.

“For us to invest millions of dollars in here and put in so much love and care, we hope it’s kind of a love letter to Savannah,” said Cole, whose stadium lease runs through 2030. “It’s our way of saying we care about this city, we care about this community.”

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Savannahians accounted for about 70% of the 15,000 fans in attendance over the weekend, according to Cole, with the other 4,000-plus spectators traveling to the Georgia coast from more than 35 states and Canadian provinces.

Locals and out-of-towners alike were treated to a sensory show, with the lights alternating between the Bananas’ yellow and the neon pink of their on-field nemesis, the Party Animals. Home runs set the lights dancing, and the videoboard brought fans closer to the high jinks happening in the stands, the dugouts and on the field.

The special effects wowed longtime Bananas fans Chris and Julie Whelen. They’ve been Grayson regulars since the debut 2016 season and marvel at the Coles’ ability to surprise and entertain.

“It really is amazing,” Chris Whelen said from his seats behind home plate. “The new lights show so much more detail. The videoboard means you don’t miss anything. The turf means truer bounces and more opportunities for trick plays. The changes make a difference.”

Credit: Sarah Peacock

For Savannah resident Eric Cooper, the Bananas are “ap-peel-ing” even without the new bells and whistles. He and his wife attended their second-ever game Friday at the home opener.

“They have fun with it,” Cooper said. “Even the umpire is out there shaking his hips. Major League Baseball could take a cue from the Bananas.”

Grayson is the smallest venue for the barnstorming Bananas, whose schedule this season includes dates at 18 major league parks, and who drew more than 1 million spectators nationally last year.

The Savannah stadium upgrades, which also included renovated grandstands in left field and down the right field line, are meant to enhance the experience for the fans. For a team where games are as much circus shows as athletic competitions, the ballpark’s analog feel could be as unnerving as a dial-up internet modem’s screech.

“Respecting the history of this place is important,” said Danny Hosley, now in his third year playing for the Bananas, “but you can do that and still provide the experience of a modern stadium. Grayson now balances the old with the new.”

Credit: Sarah Peacock

One element of the makeover, replacing the grass-and-dirt field with turf, should balance out Savannah’s finicky summer weather. Drenching pregame thunderstorms are as predictable as hanging curveballs in the Savannah summer, with puddles in the infield dirt and saturated grass in the outfield often postponing the start of games. Rain delays are so frequent the Bananas have a series of routines at the ready to keep the fans engaged as the field dries out. Two games were rained out last season.

The new playing surface is all artificial, with the turf of the pitcher’s mound, home plate area and the basepaths painted brown to look like dirt. The field drains quickly and doesn’t require coverage with tarps while it’s raining — a welcome change for Hosley and his teammates, who previously doubled as grounds crewmen when it came to rolling out the field covers.

“I won’t miss being on tarp duty,” Hosley said.

Another fan-friendly field change made during the overhaul was moving home plate 10 feet farther away from the backstop. This shortened the distance between the batter’s box and the outfield wall, which Cole hopes will translate into more home runs in the cavernous ballpark.

“We treat home runs differently with bigger bat flips, bigger dances, bigger celebrations,” Cole said. “This gives us the opportunity to do that more often.”