Banana Ball makes Utah debut with former U of U pitcher on the mound

Banana Ball comes to Utah with Pitcher Bret Helton shaving his alma mater baseball team's U of U into his chest hair. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — “Showtime,” not “play ball,” is what the announcer exclaimed before the first pitch at the Banana Ball World Tour game in Salt Lake City on Saturday night, where the Firefighters beat the Party Animals 6-4.

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The players, a.k.a. cast members, included Firefighters pitcher Bret Helton of Salt Lake City, who played baseball for the University of Utah. The music inside Bees Stadium, which for every other minute of the game blared familiar pop song choruses, played Helton on with “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” On the mound, he sported a University of Utah t-shirt before stripping it off to reveal a University of Utah emblem shaved into his chest hair. The crowd went wild.

It was the third game of a three-game series between the two teams, and the first time the national phenomenon and sports-entertainment juggernaut that is the Banana Ball Champion

 

 

 

 

 

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ship League made a stop in Utah. 

The win gave the Firefighters a complete three-game sweep of the weekend series.

All the fan-favorite Banana Ball schticks made their way into the night between innings, including the “Slowest Race on Earth,” in which 10 moms put their babies on the field for a crawl race.

Another fan favorite was the Dad Bod Race, run by a group of shirtless participants all the way across the field.

Bananas Foster, the Foundation for Banana Ball, invited local representatives of families in the foster community onto the field for recognition.