{"id":16463,"date":"2026-07-25T05:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T00:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16463"},"modified":"2026-07-25T05:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T00:36:10","slug":"banana-ball-brings-fans-entertainment-back-to-connecticut-for-hartford-series-nbc-connecticut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16463","title":{"rendered":"Banana Ball brings fans, entertainment back to Connecticut for Hartford series \u2013 NBC Connecticut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Banana Ball returned to Connecticut this week, bringing its signature mix of baseball and entertainment back to Dunkin&#8217; Park in Hartford for the first time in three years.<\/p>\n<p>The Indianapolis Clowns defeated the Party Animals in the opening game of a three-game series Wednesday night, rallying for a walk-off win in the ninth inning on a hit by former Boston Red Sox player Jackie Bradley Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Fans from Connecticut and across the country gathered for the game, with many also taking part in a pregame block party before heading into the ballpark.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You can\u2019t beat the camaraderie, excitement. It\u2019s a great time,&#8221; Jason LaForte of Ellington said.<\/p>\n<p>Banana Ball features several unique rules designed to keep the action moving and the crowd engaged. Trick plays count as points, and any foul ball caught by a fan counts as an out.<\/p>\n<p>The pregame festivities, which included dancing and other skits, also energized the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I love what they\u2019re doing with the game. Makes it more exciting than traditional baseball, but I like the additions,&#8221; Mike Szeczyk of Colchester said.<\/p>\n<p>The excitement extended to the players as well.<\/p>\n<p>David Griffin, a pitcher for the Indianapolis Clowns who is from nearby Massachusetts, returned to the same field where he made his Double-A debut when he played for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Griffin has been playing Banana Ball for the past year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s awesome to come back here being able to perform in front of family and friends, and I\u2019m throwing tomorrow so I can\u2019t wait to have everybody there,&#8221; Griffin said.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin said Banana Ball has a rhythm unlike traditional baseball.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The game is moving fast, but it\u2019s also at the same time, it slows down a little bit. You hear all of the music playing in the background, so it feels like you\u2019re in the offseason, like training,&#8221; Griffin said.<\/p>\n<p>Fans said the nonstop entertainment is part of what makes Banana Ball stand out.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s fun. It\u2019s engaging every minute. There\u2019s never a down moment,&#8221; Jessica Hickey of Simsbury said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Banana Ball returned to Connecticut this week, bringing its signature mix of baseball and entertainment back to Dunkin&#8217; Park in Hartford for the first time in three years. The Indianapolis Clowns defeated the Party Animals in the opening game of a three-game series Wednesday night, rallying for a walk-off win in the ninth inning on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.nbcconnecticut.com\/2026\/07\/Banana-Ball-stands.png?resize=1200%2C675&quality=85&strip=all","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}