The Indianapolis Clowns enter Banana Ball!

The historic Indianapolis Clowns honored and brought back to life with Jesse Cole and Banana Ball!

Jesse Cole announces former World Series Champion Ryan Howard as the primetime coach for the new Indianapolis Clowns during the Banana Ball City Selection Show on Thursday, October 9, 2025 at Historic Grayson Stadium. / Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If you are a fan of Banana Ball, I think you would probably agree like Chazz Reinhold, Jesse Cole is an innovator. He looks at a situation, diagnoses and then looks to the future and how to make it better. It is hard and some would even say it is dangerous to spend any time looking in the rearview mirror, especially when the throttle is down and you are moving with full steam ahead. As always Jesse throws caution to the wind and decides to make a 180 degree turn and this time stares deep into the past. This past week Banana Ball announced an expansive world tour and 2 additional teams. The one I am talking about today is my hometown Indianapolis Clowns.

When you think of Indiana the average person would have a handful of normal things that would come to mind. First you probably think of “The Greatest Spectacle in Sports” which takes place every May as 11 rows of 3 cars each thunder across the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The second one is more general as it is “The Basketball State” and no matter what team resonates with you they are all valid from Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers to Reggie Millers Indiana Pacer teams all the way back to Jimmy Chitwood and Coach Norman Dale’s Hickory Huskers from the legendary 1986 movie “Hoosiers”. Maybe basketball is not your thing, maybe you think of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame or Peyton Manning reviving the Colts franchise. In any of these scenarios you’d be right, and they are apart of the fabric of the Hoosier state but even with the success of Knute Rockne, Peyton Manning, Reggie Miller and Bobby Knight the athletic dominance comes from a little-known team in Indy called the Indianapolis Indians. 

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The Indianapolis Indians though in the minor leagues they have been one of the most successful professional sports franchises in history with 14 league championships. Hard to top that right? Well wins and losses are only one thing to focus on as impact at times can be more valuable. Allen Iverson didn’t win a championship, but his impact was felt for generations to come. Impact is a valuable and some would say even more rare commodity as it can’t be bought or sold, it can only be witnessed. Impact can be found by a little-known franchise from the cornfield surrounded metropolis known as Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Clowns.

It is wild how much of a perfect match this is in having Banana Ball team with history from the Indianapolis Clowns. Banana Ball is often compared to the Harlem Globetrotters, heck even I have made that reference (Click here to read that article). Well, what would you say if maybe the player that most embodied Banana Ball nearly 80 years earlier became maybe the most legendary Globetrotter after leaving the Clowns. This team was filled with players that played with flair. They were aware that they needed more than baseball they needed to entertain. Skill was obvious, fun was on display for all to see. You can find countless black and white videos on YouTube that show the flair and trickery that the Clowns became known for playing with during their days of barnstorming the Midwest and anywhere else that would have them. Clearly the original Clowns franchise was around during a different and difficult time in American history so now to get to honor the past not only in name, but style of play is such a great homage to those that paved the way.

Most baseball historians would agree that even if you didn’t think Hank Aaron was the best player of all time he was in the discussion. Well even “Hammerin’ Hank” was once a Clown and now with all of this history and lore we get to continue this tradition and play to crowds of all ages and races with the idea of bringing fun back to the ballpark. Do yourself a favor and look up names like “Goose” Tatum, Buster Haywood and DeWitt “Woody” Smallwood or the first female players like Toni Stone, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson and Connie Morgan.

The thing I miss most about living in Indianapolis is the tremendous sense of community. Indianapolis has been the long-time host to black community events like “Classic” weekend and The Black Expo, I am so excited to see the popularity of the Clowns and hope they are celebrated. 

Jesse announced this all just weeks before Halloween and I know that the most popular of Clowns with the “It” factor such as Pennywise or Bozo, but I hope now we can all get behind a legendary group of Indianapolis figures in the Indianapolis Clowns.

Indianapolis Clowns come to Banana Ball!

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