Before every Friday night game at Dudy Noble Field, Tanner Allen had a ritual.
The former Mississippi State outfielder would walk into the empty stadium, close his eyes and picture it packed with rowdy Bulldog fans. Then, he’d catch a few rays while the game-day activities slowly ramped up around him.
“I had a routine when I came onto this field. You can even ask the groundskeeper,” Allen said with a laugh. “I would lay out my towel and tan on the field. I love the beach, and laying there in the sun, it felt like home.”
A native of Theodore, Alabama, just outside of Mobile, Allen has always enjoyed water, sand and baseball. Now, he’s combined those loves into a new chapter as the first MSU Bulldog drafted into the Banana Ball league. The 2021 MSU national champion joined the Loco Beach Coconuts, one of the newest teams in the wildly popular Savannah Bananas organization.
Allen, who built his reputation on clutch hits and leadership, said Banana Ball feels like a natural next step.
Earning worldwide fame for its one-of-a-kind version of America’s favorite pastime, Banana Ball features a fast-paced, high-energy version of baseball blending competition and entertainment to the enjoyment of sold-out crowds across the nation.
“If I can take an opportunity to do what I love on the baseball field and be able to act like myself and put a smile on somebody’s face,” he said, “I’m going to do it.”
Discovering Banana Ball
Allen’s introduction to Banana Ball came as a fan—sitting among thousands of Banana fanatics when the league’s Party Animals and Texas Tailgaters faced off at The Dude in 2025. He said he quickly realized this was a game he wanted to play rather than just watch.
“I loved that there’s music nonstop. Just immaculate vibes all around,” he said. “The players were hanging out with fans and making them part of what’s going on. That’s what I love about it: The players are all engaged.”
The league’s emphasis on entertainment, fan interaction and personality resonated with Allen, whose own MSU career unfolded on some of college baseball’s biggest stages.
At Dudy Noble Field, where crowds regularly reach more than 10,000 fans, he thrived under the stadium lights. Even with pressure mounting, it never phased No. 5. In 2021, facing the University of Virginia, the Bulldogs were down 4-2 when Allen got to the plate. At the top of the eighth inning and with the weight of the entire MSU fanbase on his shoulders, Allen rocked back and forth. He watched the first pitch sail past him on the outside. Without hesitation, he swung at his next pitch and barreled a three-run homer to give the Bulldogs the lead and the win in the quarterfinals in Omaha.
“I’ve played in front of huge crowds my entire career at State,” he said. “I’m comfortable in that environment, and I’m excited to play in packed places around the country.”
A Familiar Triple
Though he’s years removed from his last college game, baseball never stopped being part of Allen’s life. Professionally, he spent the 2022 season in the High-A Midwest League and 2023-24 with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. In the offseason, he regularly hosted baseball clinics, sharing both his skills and his love for the game with the next generation.
Recently, Allen returned to his alma mater for the Bulldogs’ Legends Game alongside icons Jake Mangum and Mitch “Two-Bags” Moreland. During the game, Allen barreled a triple alongside familiar Bulldog cheers—an echo of the countless clutch hits that defined his collegiate career.
“I hit the ball in the left-field gap and thought, ‘This is easy,’” Allen said. “Once I hit second base, the oil pressure started leaking. My knees weren’t getting as high as they normally do.”
Known for his timely triples, Allen said that one felt different.
“When I had that triple against Ole Miss in college, it felt like it went by in a flash,” he said. “This one felt like I ran to Tupelo and back. I felt every single step, but it was special to do it again at The Dude.”
Bananas all around
Weeks later, when he got the call to join Banana Ball, Allen said it felt meant to be. It isn’t the first time he has been associated with the bright yellow fruit.
During MSU’s improbable run to the semifinals of the 2019 College World Series, bananas became a lucky symbol for the Bulldogs.
“Jordan Westburg put a banana on his head, and we just started winning,” Allen recalled. “Now, it just feels full circle.”
That year, the “rally banana” became synonymous with Bulldog wins until a semifinal loss to eventual national champions Oregon State. Now, a different Banana is giving Allen another chance to play the game he loves, this time in a league that celebrates individuality as much as performance.
Completing Allen’s “full-circle” feeling is former Bulldog pitcher Keegan James, who was picked in the ninth round and joins Allen on the Coconuts lineup.
“I love Keegan, and he likes hunting and fishing like me, so I’ll have somebody on the team able to do that with,” Allen said. “Keegan is a great competitor and a really good pitcher. I know he’s been working hard.”
League of its own
Known for choreographed dances, flaming bats, fan participation and nonstop music, Banana Ball has sold out every home game at Savannah, Georgia’s, Historic Grayson Stadium since its 2016 inaugural season.
With more than 11.1 million followers on TikTok—a figure outnumbering every franchise in Major League Baseball and all teams in the NFL, NBA and NHL—the Bananas have become a cultural phenomenon. Behind all the popularity and viral success, Banana Ball is about keeping the fun in the national pastime, which to Allen—a ballplayer who loves the game and loves people—makes the move feel right.
“Banana Ball is a lot of entertainment, but it is also competitive,” Allen said. “I can just be myself and be around those guys—free to be me and do my own thing. That’s a breath of fresh air in today’s world. Everybody in Banana Ball has unbelievably immaculate vibes.”
Even though he now takes the field wearing the tropical prints of a Loco Coconut, Allen still bleeds Maroon and White.
“I’ll even be playing with some Ole Miss guys, and I’m actually excited,” he said with a laugh. “But that doesn’t mean that I won’t be rubbing in their face that I was 14-2 against them.”
By Mary Pollitz, Photos by Emily Grace McCall
