A Banana Boat of Fun Ideas on Bill Veeck Night
Thank you, White Sox, thanks Bill! (Provided photo.)
Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Veeck loved incongruity, so he would have enjoyed Saturday’s “Bill Veeck Night” at Rate Field. The White Sox did a fine job with Veeckish stunts such as a pre-game petting zoo featuring Stella the Sloth, a 60-second marriage in center field officiated by former White Sox great Ron Kittle, a puffy Andrew the Clown, and a cool Veeck bobblehead.
But incongruity rounded the bases at the end of the game.
Jesse Cole, the effervescent founder of the Savannah Bananas barnstorming baseball team, appeared with a video message on the center field scoreboard. Wearing his bright yellow P.T. Barnum getup, he plugged the Bananas’ sold-out games this Friday and Saturday at the Rate—where the White Sox drew 17,893 for Veeck night under a full moon.
Jesse Cole, not Jerry Reinsdorf (D. Hoekstra snapshot.)
Generations of Veeck friends and family sat in the right field bleachers. (Veeck’s son Mike declined a suite for the festive gathering. Wearing a White Sox jersey, Mike threw out the game’s first pitch with a mutineer’s smile.
Mike’s son Night Train sat a couple of rows behind his father in the bleachers. He is the fourth generation of Veecks to work in baseball and partnered with Mike and actor-Cubs fan Bill Murray as owners of the independent league Joliet Slammers. They are avatars of amusement.
It wasn’t so long ago that the Veecks were not embraced at the Rate, the Cell, Comiskey, etc. And here they were. Watching video montages of Bill Veeck’s lifelong dance with fun. And watching Jesse Cole promote an outsider baseball product in a major league baseball stadium.
Pre-game Veeck night “Tail Gate” with Stella the Sloth, visiting from Chicago area’s Animal Quest. (D. Hoekstra portrait.)
This is where things get interesting.
Mike Veeck has been a force in the Bananas success. He was the first banana. As owners of minor league teams in St. Paul, MN. and Charleston, SC, Veeck preached, “Fun is Good.” Here is my Newcity magazine deep dive on the Veeck ethos. Cole and his wife Emily call their company “Fans First Entertainment.”
On January 19, 2019 Cole tweeted, “You have to be the face of the team and you’ve got to get a little crazy.” Some of the best advice I’ve ever received from Mike Veeck when I was 23 years old and just started in the baseball industry. Crazier now than I’ve ever been, thanks Mike for the inspiration!” Veeck and Cole are united in the quest for moral elevation.
In 2008 Cole attended one of Veeck’s “Fun is Good” conferences. Veeck told the gathering that his father kept an idea box in the house and if there ever was a fire, that was the first thing the family should grab. On LinkedIn Cole wrote, “Bill Veeck was arguably the most innovative owner is sports history and was a champion of doing things for the fans that no owners had ever done before.” That’s true. Veeck’s Hall of Fame plaque in concludes, “A Champion of the Little Guy.” There should be a statue of Veeck in the Rate bleachers.
Veeck Night 50-foot hot dog. (Provided)
The Bananas thing has gotten very big. This summer, they have sold out two nights in St. Louis, Coors Field in Denver and Camden Yards in Baltimore. People, and especially kids, love their wacky antics, fan engagement and two-hour limit on games. Players on stilts, a ban on beautiful bunts and stealing first base isn’t my thing, but who am I to put shade on fun?
The Bananas won’t stop with the barnstorming model. In March, a Bryant University report said that the Coles “are about to expand beyond the Bananas to create a six-team league to broaden their audience even further.” In his 2023 book “Banana Ball,” Cole wrotem “I believe the Savannah Bananas will have one billion fans and we will be recognized as the world’s largest sports and entertainment company.”
The Bananas were founded in 2016 as members of collegiate summer baseball’s Coastal Plain League through 2022. Cole dreams big. He cites Walt Disney as another mentor, writing in “Banana Ball” that one of his favorite Disney quotes is “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Jimmy Piersall might have dug the Savannah Bananas. (Provided)
I’ve been writing about Chicago area minor league baseball since the Kane County Cougars were born in 1991. In 2009 I wrote “Cougars and Snappers and Loons (Oh My!) A Midwest League Field Guide. The Cougars first general manager Bill Larsen was another Bill Veeck disciple. There is no better condensed audience for family-oriented minor league baseball in America than the outer ring Chicago market. Here’s the Chicago area attendance Indy league figures as of Aug. 9 Veeck night:
American Association: 1. Kane County 248,354 (5,068 per game), 2. Chicago Dogs 191,984 (4,000 per game in Rosemont), 4. Gary Rail Cats 152,894 (3,185 per game.)
Frontier League: 1. Schaumburg 201,216 (5,030 per game, ahead of 2nd place Quebec), 5. Joliet 73,344 (1,982 per game), 6. Windy City (in Crestwood) 73,598 (1,937 per game.)
That’s a lot of families and kids who would eat up an affordable Banana Ball League.
I’m just spit balling. Who knows if those six teams would drop out of current leagues to form a new league? The Frontier League is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The American Association is an MLB partner league. But promotional angles with a Jackson 5 dance routine for Gary and the Blues Brothers in Joliet are irresistible.
The author and Mike Veeck (right) pre-game. We love Johnny Rivers.
There’s always been a connection between Schaumburg, Joliet, and the Bananas. In 2024 Schaumburg signed three Bananas including Kyle “Hollywood” Arjona. Former Notre Dame linebacker and White Sox minor leaguer Michael “Vitamin” Deeb signed with Joliet in 2024. And the Joliet-Bananas relationship has only improved with the Veeck interest.
Joliet also has experience in operating an in-house league. During the 2020 pandemic, Joliet established a four-team City of Champions competition, and it remains one of my most unique baseball memories.
After signing waivers for health precautions, I saw Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Glenallen Hill, Jr. managed by his father Glenallen Hill, Sr., and watched Naperville native and ex-major leaguer Ian Krol pitch. The teams were The Slammers, and Bananas–like names Tully Monsters, Deep Dish, and Nerds Herd. Deeb played for Tully, named for the state fossil of Illinois. The teams played 54 games in 51 days. (The American Association also launched a limited edition season in early July 2020.)
Eyes are on a major league baseball work stoppage in 2026 or 2027, but independent leagues will keep on playing. Joliet lines up as a cornerstone for Banana Ball. The Slammers’ Duly Health and Care Field has a capacity of 6,016 and is 8 miles from the new $185 million Hollywood Casino Joliet that includes celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis’ Sorellina restaurant and Stephanie Izard’s Lucky Goat.
Joliet Slammers host the Mississippi Mud Monsters July 8, 2025 (D. Hoekstra photo.)
In 2024, the historic downtown Rialto Square theater reported its first-ever profit in nearly 100 years. Next year is the 100th anniversary of Route 66, just a couple of blocks away from the ballpark, and the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum is downtown at 9 W. Cass St. on Route 66.
There’s cultural and physical construction happening in Joliet this summer, creating a field for a fun rebirth. Banana Ball is a low-hanging fruit.
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