The Yankees are in Boston this weekend for another crucial series as they look to take control of the top wild-card spot over the Red Sox in the American League (they beat the Bosox Friday night 4-1), and perhaps make one final charge at the Blue Jays in the division.
But that doesn’t mean Yankee Stadium will be quiet.
In fact, plenty of baseball fans — nearly 100,000 — will be in The Bronx for a very different baseball experience.
For the first time, the Savannah Bananas, the barnstorming, trick-filled team from Georgia, will play a pair of exhibition games in front of sold-out crowds at the Stadium.
“It’s been one of the most in-demand tickets we’ve had,” Tony Bruno, senior VP of Yankee Global Enterprises, said by phone this week. “They bring a different flair to the game. It’s a phenomenon.”
One that’s brought the collection of mostly former college and minor league players with other off-field skills around major league stadiums this season, as well as a handful a year ago.
“I know the players have some unique skill sets, with trick plays,’’ Luke Weaver said. “It’s fun to watch. It provides a different perspective of the game.”
Like others, Weaver compared the Bananas to the Harlem Globetrotters.
“It’s just a different way of doing things,” Weaver said. “I think it’s good for baseball, putting twists on the game..”
The reviews have been good around the country so far.
And they’ve played in traditional baseball hotbeds like Boston and St. Louis, but Saturday will be their New York debut.
“It is a big deal,’’ the team’s president, Jared Orton, said of playing in The Bronx. “We did this in Tampa [at Steinbrenner Field] in previous years and got a taste of working with the Yankees organization. This step is us growing up and proof that we can do it, hopefully, at the biggest stage.”
While the team’s home park remains Grayson Stadium in Savannah, they’ve been taking their game — which is notable for its fast pace and rule changes, such as stepping out of the batter’s box results in a strike or if a fan catches a foul ball, it’s an out — around the country for several years.
And although there are also dances, antics and scripted routines throughout the game, the plays and results are not scripted, which is why there is some pushback Globetrotters comparisons.
“We want to entertain the fans and give them something to talk about,” Orton said of the team, which has been in existence for about a decade. “That was the mission on Day 1: Make baseball fun. And that’s still the mission. To go from 4,000 [fans at Grayson Stadium] to 45,000 is pretty remarkable.”
And it’s not a transition that was simple, especially as they tried to convince major league teams to first let them use their spring training ballparks.
“It’s scary to open your facility for anyone,’’ Orton said. “They play baseball there every night and we’re gonna have this crazy brand of baseball, with a guy on stilts and a dancing first base coach. How was that gonna go?”
There were hiccups at first.
“We had people ask if we needed to use the bullpens,’’ Orton said. “We had to tell them, ‘Yes, we have pitchers and catchers. We have real baseball players.’”
But they still call their pregame preparations a “rehearsal” instead of batting practice.
“That blew their minds,’’ Orton said. “But once they saw it and how we operated and met the coaching staff and the players and team, the level of care we put into the game and performance, they were all on board.”
If all goes well this weekend, Orton hopes for more appearances both in The Bronx and at Citi Field.
Last weekend in San Diego, Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman closed out a game at Petco Park and Orton promised other surprises in The Bronx.
“That’s what makes our brand more fun and unique,’’ he said. “Truly every night is something different, from the field to the stands. We never want to get stale.”
