The Savannah Bananas are a wood bat collegiate summer baseball team located in Savannah, Georgia that has developed a cult following due to their zany antics and entertainment-focused approach to baseball. While still relatively new, having begun play in 2016, the Bananas have already carved out a unique niche and developed a loyal fanbase. With their popularity and novelty continuing to grow, it was only a matter of time before the Bananas got into the baseball card business.

In 2022, the Bananas officially released their first ever set of trading cards. Produced by Topps, the 120 card base set featured images and stats for every player on the 2022 Bananas roster as well as coaches, support staff, funny action shots, and memorable moments from the season. For collectors of novelty and oddity cards, the Savannah Bananas set was an instant must-have due to the teams quirky brand. With distribution handled exclusively through the Bananas team store and at games, the cards sold out almost immediately.

Demand was clearly there, so Topps and the Bananas decided to continue their partnership and release an extended 162 card set for the 2023 season. This brought back all the same types of cards as the first set but with updated rosters and photos. Paralleling Topps flagship baseball sets in format if not content, the extended Bananas cards again proved wildly popular. As the teams popularity has grown, so too has the collector base for their cards. Given the teams unconventional approach, the cards have developed a niche appeal all their own.

While standard baseball card sets focus mainly on stats, skills, and career milestones, the Bananas cards reflect the comedic personas and antics that have made the team so fun and viral on social media. For example, cards might feature things like banana mascot costumes, zany player celebrations or promotions, or action shots from non-baseball entertainment segments like songs or dances during games. Stats are still included as usual but take a backseat to capturing the silliness and spirit of a Bananas game. This gives the sets a tone unlike traditional cards.

Collectors can also find rare parallels, inserts, and hit cards in Bananas sets just like the big league releases. Inserts so far have included “Fun Facts” cards sharing amusing tidbits about players and coaches, “Behind the Scenes” shots from team activities, and “Manufactured Controversy” cards reviving mock feuds between players or opponents. Popular hit cards that can really increase values include rare auto or memorabilia swatches from stars Bananas like Sonny and Slinger. With rosters changing yearly, early cards of now-popular figures will surely increase in demand.

The extended release format has also allowed for numbered parallels like gold /10, black /5 and even ultra-rare banana yellow /1 prints of select cards. These rarer versions immediately become the most coveted cards for dedicated Bananas PC builders. With the team’s rising profile, even base Bananas rookies from early seasons are starting to gain interest as collectors want to obtain players from when the franchise was brand new. Entire team and player collection sets are being built.

While still in the early stages, average PSA 10 graded Bananas cards have already started to approach and exceed $50-100 on the secondary market, with especially popular and rare cards pushing up near the $1000 range. As more collectors are turned onto this fun and whimsical niche, those prices seem poised only to grow further over time. The Bananas were truly pioneers in expanding the potential of niche baseball cards and branded collector’s items far beyond just stats and scores. Their influence will assuredly resonate within the card collecting world for many years to come.