Who Is Jared Orton? Meet the Savannah Bananas President

Before more than 40,000 fans filled Wrigley Field for another sold-out night of Banana Ball, Jared Orton was doing what he always seems to do.

He was smiling.

Walking through the ballpark, greeting people and making sure another game would become another unforgettable experience.

That’s fitting for someone who has been with the Savannah Bananas since the very beginning.

As president of the Savannah Bananas, Orton has watched the organization grow from a startup summer collegiate baseball team in Savannah, Georgia, into one of the fastest-growing sports and entertainment brands in the world.

The crowds have grown from thousands to millions.

The league has expanded from one team to six.

The venues have grown from historic Grayson Stadium to iconic ballparks like Wrigley Field.

Yet according to Orton, one thing hasn’t changed.

“The key to our success the whole time has been we’ve been focused on the fans,” he told me before the game.

“We’ve been focused on making baseball fun.”

That philosophy sounds simple.

In reality, it’s become the foundation for everything Banana Ball does.

Whether the team was playing in front of 4,000 fans in its early days or more than 40,000 fans today, Orton says the mission has remained exactly the same.

“Make baseball fun. Make it about people. Make it about the fans.”

It’s a sentence he delivered matter-of-factly.

But when you look at Banana Ball’s remarkable growth, it becomes clear those aren’t just words.

They’re operating principles.

From Gastonia to the Savannah Bananas

Before helping build the Savannah Bananas, Orton worked with Fans First Entertainment while earning his degree in sport management at Belmont Abbey College. His early experiences with the Gastonia Grizzlies and Burlington Royals reinforced a lesson that would eventually define his career: when organizations obsess over the fan experience, people come back.

In 2015, he accepted the challenge of helping revive baseball in Savannah alongside Jesse Cole and the rest of the organization.

One year later, the inaugural Savannah Bananas season welcomed more than 91,000 fans and shattered the Coastal Plain League attendance record.

Seventeen of the team’s 24 home games sold out.

Then something remarkable happened.

The sellouts never stopped.

Today, hundreds of thousands of fans join the Banana Ball ticket lottery each year hoping for the opportunity to attend a sold-out game.

The phenomenon has expanded far beyond Savannah.

Banana Ball now tours nationally with six teams, selling out major league stadiums while reaching millions of fans through YouTube and social media.

The job Jared Orton would trade for

Yet despite overseeing one of sports’ biggest success stories, Orton still lights up when talking about something much simpler.

The Young Professor.

Before our interview officially began, I asked him to pull a fun question from one of my interview cards.

“If you could trade your job for one event, which would you want?”

His answer came instantly.

“I want to be the Young Professor.”

He laughed as he explained why.

“I want to do the weigh-ins. I want to do the rules. I want to do the intro that this is Banana Ball.”

Then he grinned.

“I want to dress to the nines like Professor does.”

It should be noted he was wearing pants with banana imprints all over them.

When the Young Professor steps onto the field before each game, he energizes thousands of fans by enthusiastically explaining Banana Ball’s unique rules.

To Orton, it’s more than entertainment.

“When I see him come out and get the energy going,” he said, “I’m like… give me that one.”

I joked by asking if the Young Professor simply makes him laugh.

“He makes me laugh,” Orton admitted.

“But he gives me chills as well.”

Why that answer matters

That answer may reveal more about Banana Ball than any business metric ever could.

After helping build one of the country’s fastest-growing sports organizations, the role Orton would most like to experience isn’t sitting in the owner’s chair or throwing out the first pitch.

It’s standing in front of thousands of fans, helping create the excitement that kicks off every Banana Ball game.

That speaks volumes about where the organization’s priorities remain.

Throughout our conversation, Orton repeatedly brought the discussion back to one idea.

The fans.

Even as Banana Ball has evolved from collegiate summer baseball into a touring entertainment phenomenon, he believes the organization’s responsibility hasn’t changed.

“It has changed over time from when we first started,” he said. “But we still had dancing players. We still wanted to make it about fun.”

“Even now that we’re at a 40,000-seat stadium, that mission still stays true.”

Fans First remains the mission

Watching the crowds at Wrigley Field, it’s difficult to argue.

Children danced in the aisles.

Parents laughed along.

Grandparents cheered just as loudly as teenagers.

It looked less like a traditional baseball game and more like a community celebration.

Perhaps that’s why Banana Ball continues attracting people who don’t even consider themselves baseball fans.

The sport is simply the vehicle.

The experience is the destination.

And that’s exactly the vision Orton and the organization have pursued since the beginning.

As our interview wrapped up, I realized something.

It’s easy to look at Banana Ball’s growth and assume the secret lies in trick plays, dancing players or viral videos.

Those certainly help.

But after talking with the man who has helped lead the organization since day one, the explanation may be much simpler.

Never stop making it about the fans.

Everything else follows.

See additional Savannah Bananas on si content!

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