Jesse Cole transformed an empty ballpark into an \$80 million baseball empire—without Wall Street cash or flashy ads. Just TikTok virality, yellow tuxedos, and a deep understanding of what fans actually crave.
In 2016, Jesse took over a struggling collegiate summer league team in Savannah. Empty stands, boring games—the sport felt like an afterthought. But Jesse saw something else: people said they loved baseball, yet weren’t showing up because it had grown stale.
He asked a simple question: what if baseball wasn’t just a game… but a performance?
Betting everything—selling his house, maxing credit cards, sleeping on an air mattress—he launched Banana Ball.
The results? Mind-blowing.
In 2016, the season opener averaged 3,659 fans over 22 games—totaling 80,504 fans, with 18 sellouts including playoffs. By 2023, their World Tour attracted over 500,000 fans nationwide. In 2025, a single game at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium sold out 81,000 seats in four hours. Two nights in Charlotte drew 148,000 fans, and the current waitlist sits at 3.6 million.
Revenue soared. A 4,000-seat sellout in Savannah pulls \$2.1 million just in tickets. Road games like Indianapolis’ Victory Field generate \$744K including merch and concessions.
Social media? Over 10 million TikTok followers—surpassing Major League Baseball. Even rivals, the Party Animals, boast 3 million.
Banana Ball didn’t reinvent baseball—they made it fun again. Fast-paced, two-hour games filled with dancing umpires, stilt-walking pitchers, fan-caught foul balls counting as outs, and no bunting.
The takeaway? You don’t need a new game. You just need energy, community, and showmanship.
Jesse Cole turned baseball into a joy-filled, stadium-stuffing spectacle—one banana at a time.
