So, the other day, I got really curious about the Savannah Bananas. You see them everywhere online, doing crazy stuff on the field, right? And I started wondering, how much do these guys actually get paid for playing baseball like that? It’s not your typical minor league gig, that’s for sure.
Digging for Details
My first step was just firing up the old search engine. I typed in stuff like “Savannah Bananas player salary,” “how much do Bananas players make,” you know, the usual things you’d search for. I spent a good chunk of time clicking through different pages.
Right away, I noticed something: there’s no official, clear-cut number published anywhere. It’s not like the MLB where salaries are mostly public knowledge. The Bananas keep that stuff pretty close to the chest.
What I Found (and Didn’t Find)
I found a lot of articles and blog posts talking about their salaries, but mostly speculating. Here’s kinda what I pieced together from reading different sources:
- No Official Figures: Like I said, the team owner, Jesse Cole, and the organization don’t release specific salary information. It’s private company stuff.
- Estimates Everywhere: Lots of websites guess the numbers. Some say it’s comparable to Independent League baseball salaries, maybe a bit better. Others throw out figures like a few thousand bucks a month, plus housing and food sometimes, especially when they’re on tour.
- It’s Not MiLB Pay: They aren’t affiliated with Major League Baseball, so they don’t follow the minor league pay scales, which honestly aren’t always great either, especially at the lower levels.
- Year-Round vs. Seasonal: It seems like the core group, the guys you see in all the videos, might be on year-round contracts because they tour so much. But maybe they bring in other players seasonally? That part wasn’t super clear.
Thinking About Their Value
Then I started thinking about what these players actually do. They’re not just baseball players; they’re entertainers. They dance, they wear kilts, they interact with the crowd constantly. It’s a performance as much as a game. That’s gotta factor into their pay, right? They’re building a brand.
Consider these points:
- They travel a lot, playing in different cities. That constant touring lifestyle needs decent compensation.
- They are the show. Their personalities and skills are what sell tickets and merchandise.
- The team is hugely popular, selling out stadiums. That success probably means they can afford to pay their players reasonably well, better than just scraping by.
So, What’s the Bottom Line?
After all that digging, I didn’t find a hard number. Annoying, right? But my gut feeling, based on everything I read and just thinking about the whole operation, is that they’re probably paid decently for the unique job they do. It’s likely more than low-level minor leaguers but obviously not MLB money. They seem to get year-round work if they’re on the main tour team, plus the experience is totally unique.
It was an interesting rabbit hole to go down. It just shows how different their model is – they keep their business details private, focusing on the fun and the show rather than the contract specifics you see in other pro sports.
