Disney Celebrates America: How Savannah Bananas are bringing baseball's past into the future

America is going bananas for Savannah Bananas baseball!

Founded in 2016, the exhibition team hasbecome popular for its own high-energy, fan-focusedspin on the sportknown as Banana Ball,that seesplayers, coaches,and umpiresbreak out into elaborate dance routines,musical performancesand circus-like antics in the middle of a competitive game.

In the last few years, the Savannah, Georgia-based baseball team has soared in popularity; its videos have become social media sensations andsecond baseman Jackson Olson is even joining this fall's "Dancing with the Stars" cast.

Watch "Disney Celebrates America: The Pursuit of Happiness" from 8 to 10 p.m. ET on Monday, June 29, on ABC. In this coast-to-coast event, DisneyParksand attractions are the portal through which America's greatest stories, triumphsand traditions are celebrated.

Jesse Cole, owner of the Savannah Bananas and the creator of Banana Ball, has since expandedhis vision from one team intothesix-teamBanana BallChampionship League.

"To see the growth and now have six teams playing all over the country ... to see millions of fans watching our games through Disney and ESPN, is amazing," he told ABC News' primetime special, "Disney Celebrates America: The Pursuit of Happiness."

Banana Ball's 2026 tour will see them play 190 games across 45 states, where they'll perform to sold-out crowds of over 3 million fans.

"My first experience with the Bananas ... I was blown away.You couldn't take your eyes off the field," Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, told ABC News.

"And the minute I saw what they were doing, I instantly connected it back to the Negro Leagues, and specifically the Indianapolis Clowns," he said.

Kendrick's experience at that game would become the first step towards an eventual partnership between the Bananas and the Negro League Baseball Museum.

Founded in 1990 by agroupof former Negro League players, the Kansas City, Missouri, museum is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of Black baseball and its impact on the civil rights movement in America.

Kendrick noted how the Negro Leagues "were born out of the ashes of American segregation."

"They had been shunned from the Major Leagues, not because they weren't talented enough...but simply because of the color of their skin," he said. "So what did they do?Theycreated a league of their own."

After the founding of the Negro National League in 1920, it quickly gained popularity with fans as it became known for its faster, more aggressive play style in comparison to Major League Baseball at the time.

Kendrick remarked that,"Whenyou went to a NegroLeagues game,youcouldn't go to the concession stand, because you might miss something that you ain't never seen before."

One of those teams, the Indianapolis Clowns, "essentially became the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball," he said, noting that players would often dress up as clowns to entertain the crowd before, during and after games.

The Clowns won four championships in the 1950s, but those titleswere set against the backdropof a historic shift in the Negro Leagues. After Jackie Robinson became the first African American player recruited to MLB in 1947,thepopularity of the Negro Leagues fell,asfansfollowed the best young Black and Hispanic ball players to MLB.

In 1959, theBostonRed Sox became the last MLB team to integrate, and bythe early 1960s, the Negro Leaguesdisbanded.It would take until2020,the 100th anniversary of their founding,forMLBtoofficiallyelevatethe Negro LeaguestoMajor League statusand incorporate the stats of its trailblazers into their record books, with the MLB calling it "long overdue recognition."

"The Bananas visited the museum in 2022," Kendrick said. "AndwhenJessesaw the small display that we have on the [Indianapolis] Clowns, I thinkthat'swhen the epiphany occurred."

After learning the history of the Clowns,Cole recalledfeeling thatmore people needed to know this story.

"Sowhy not bring them back?" he said.

With the creation of the Banana Ball Championship League and two new expansion teams added in 2026, Cole chose to honorbaseball's past by paying tribute to the Negro Leagues through the rebirth ofthe Indianapolis Clowns.

"We want to make sure every single Clown that ever wore that jersey is proud of whatwe'redoing," Cole said.

ClownspitcherNick Wilson recently discovered thathis grandfather played inaNegro League.

He reflected that,"It's just unreal and unbelievable to be able to carry on thiskind oflegacy."

FormerWorld Serieschampion and current Clowns center fielderJackie Bradley Jr.added, "It's a responsibility and a privilege to not only honor the ones before us, but to ... be able to pass on to the next generation, as well."

As Kendrick sees it,"Thestory of the Negro Leagues could have only happened in America ... while America was trying to prevent them from sharing in the joys of its national pastime, it was the American spirit that allowed them to persevere and prevail."

"It'sa story that transcends race, it transcends age, it transcends gender," he said. " ... AndI'mthrilled ... becausethe historyhas come back to life."

ABC News' Jhasua Scicchitano and Sebastian Leyvacontributed to this report.