BILLINGS — Dehler Park in Billings is hosting Banana Ball for the first time, as the Firefighters and Party Animals bring their high-energy, rule-breaking brand of baseball.
This isn't a regular baseball game. Banana Ball is baseball — but with dancing, backflips, fan catches counting as outs, and almost none of the rules you're used to.
Watch the players talk about what Banana Ball is all about:
What fans see under the lights starts hours before first pitch, with batting practice, dance rehearsals, and plenty of preparation.
"Every game we have rehearsals that we're practicing, the dances that you're going to see during the game," Party Animals player Brady Kais said Thursday. "It's something that you've never seen before."
For Kais, the entertainment is as important as the scoreboard.
"We're playing the sport that we call Banana Ball, where we're going out there doing trick plays, entertainment. You're going to see dancing. You're just going to see a lot of fun," Kais said.
The rules are nothing close to traditional baseball. There are 11 of them, including several that get fans directly involved.
"We have no mound visits," Kais said. "There's no bunting because bunting sucks."
"Every fan here can be a part of the game. If you catch a foul ball, you've got the batter out," Kais said.
Players come from college programs, professional baseball, and independent leagues — but the biggest requirement may be creativity.
"We have over-the-top thinking. So we players, our entertainment staff, they all submit ideas that we have come up throughout the week. And then sometimes they get brought to life," Kais said.
For Firefighters player Marshall Shill, the prep work goes well beyond batting practice.
"We're here 10 hours before a game, practicing, rehearsing, figuring out what stuff we want to do, coming up with ideas. So, it's a lot more mental and physical than you would think," Shill said.
The three-day event is sold out with first pitch Thursday at 7 p.m.
