Grayson Stadium, originally known as the Municipal Stadium, has been the home of Savannah’s baseball teams for nearly a century. The stadium was built in 1926 and served as the home stadium for several local and collegiate Savannah teams. In 1932, it hosted the Boston Red Sox during their spring training period.

In 1940, the stadium was nearly entirely destroyed by the South Carolina Hurricane, which rocked the Lowcountry with over $1,000,000 in damages. Luckily, Savannah had a determined Spanish-American War veteran with a deep love for the game. His name was General William L. Grayson, and he led the efforts to raise over $150,000 to rebuild the stadium. When the construction was finished, the stadium reopened under the name “Grayson Stadium” to honor the tenacious veteran who saved Savannah’s favorite pastime.

The new stadium had a bright future ahead of it, and famously hosted the first integrated South Atlantic League game in its field, which can house 4,000 fans. The stadium currently serves as the home field for the beloved Savannah Bananas. The Savannah Bananas are in the west division of the Coastal Plain League. The team was founded in 2016, after the previous team housed in the stadium moved to Columbia, South Carolina.

The Bananas are an exciting and fun team to support, and many fans love their famous “anything goes” mentality, but the team’s skill is nothing to scoff at. They’ve won three Pettit Cup Championships since their debut, and they have sold out every single game, both home and away, for every season since 2016. They’re cheered on by a pep band made up of the players’ mothers and aunties, who have dubbed themselves the “Banana Nanas”. They also have a separate pep band of fathers who rock their “dad-bods” and call themselves the “Man-Nanas”.

The Savannah Bananas have taken a simple game of baseball and turned it into a nation-wide Banana Ball phenomenon, including all who wish to be involved; from the oldest nanas to the very youngest Banana fans.