During the first half of the 20th Century, many baseball players, including Major Leaguers, formed teams to travel the country playing other barnstorming teams, as well as local minor league and town teams. This provided smaller cities and towns a means to watch their favorite stars, and extra money for the players.

Barnstorming’s popularity among fans and players faded by the 1960s with the advent of televised games and increased salaries but has since seen a resurgence.

Colorado Silver Bullets

Barnstorming made a brief comeback in 1994 with the creation of the Colorado Silver Bullets, an all-female team that was not part of a league. The team travelled the country from 1994 through 1997, playing men’s all-star amateur and semi-pro teams.

In the late 2010s barnstorming was resurrected again and has seen increased popularity.

Banana Ball

Marrying the barnstorming concept with the atmosphere of a Harlem Globetrotters game, the Savannah Bananas, a former summer collegiate league team, became a full-time barnstorming team in 2023 and took the country by storm (no pun intended), selling out Major League and NFL stadiums with their unique brand of fast-paced, crowd-pleasing Banana Ball.

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2018-2022

In 2018 the Bananas, then a member of the collegiate summer Coastal Plain League, began playing exhibition games at their home stadium, outside of regular league play, featuring their own rules, called Banana Ball.

2023-2026

After the 2022 CPL season the team left the league and became a full-time barnstorming team.

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2026 –

In 2026 Banana Ball expanded to an entire league of six teams, the Banana Ball Championship League.

Cosmic Baseball

Another summer collegiate team, the Tri-City Chili Peppers, invented Cosmic Baseball in 2024 and took the show on the road in 2025. The Cosmic game is played under black lights to feature glowing bats, balls, bases, and uniforms.