Earlham baseball standout Max Fries is leaving his mark with the Savannah Bananas, one of the greatest shows in sports.
While Max Fries ’23 ’24 M.Ed. was on winter break during his senior year, the star outfielder on the Quakers baseball team was also honing his craft as a social media influencer with a goal of helping other players improve their skills and stay in shape.
“I started posting on social media to give me something fun to do, as well as hopefully make an impact on other baseball players,” Fries said. “Within the first week, I had a video get over 500,000 views and I thought, ‘maybe I’m onto something here.’”
After a recruiter discovered his TikTok profile and saw potential for more, Fries signed a contract with the Savannah Bananas, the popular touring professional baseball circuit dubbed by ABC News as “The Greatest Show in Sports.” Fries is a member of the newly created Visitors Team, a developmental pipeline for the Bananas and spent the spring and summer traveling to events around the country.
“Being a part of the Savannah Bananas organization has been a dream,” Fries said during a three- game residency at Victory Field in Indianapolis this summer. “This is an organization unlike any other.”
In Banana Ball, players perform choreographed dances while wearing kilts. Games are capped at two hours. Even foul balls caught by fans count as outs. “We truly buy into the motto ‘fan’s first’ because nothing is really about you in this. That’s what I love,” Fries said. “It’s a collaborative effort where, yes, we are competing for something, but we want to give the fans the ultimate experience, the ultimate Banana Ball experience. This might be their first time at a game and it’s the greatest show in sports at the end of the day. We want to make sure we bring that to the table.”
Even with his impressive collegiate baseball resume and savvy social media persona — Fries has more than 150,000 followers on TikTok — his journey to the Bananas may have never happened without an unusual idea from his mom.
“My mom is a big fan of the Savannah Bananas and she’s always wanted me to play for them,” Fries said. “She told me, ‘You’re a great player, you’ve got the talent but you need some- thing different. Everyone’s got something on the Bananas that they bring to the table that’s not just baseball related.’”
Her idea? Riding a unicycle. “I laughed, and I said, ‘Alright, Mom, I’ll give it a shot,’” said Fries.
Just months after incorporating footage of himself learning to ride a unicycle on his Tiktok, he was offered a contract. It’s the first contract of many he hopes to sign with the organization that has had 200 straight sell-outs and captivated fans across the country.
“My goal is to hopefully be in this organization for a long time,” Fries said. “I think we’re just getting started with Banana Ball and starting to grow. We like to talk about how we’re kind of like babies learning to walk. It’s obviously a great thing right now and it’s growing but there’s a lot of great opportunities in front of us.”
Head Earlham Baseball Coach Steve Sakosits isn’t surprised by his former player’s success.
“Max’s ceiling is untapped,” Sakosits said. “Whatever it will be in baseball will be because he worked hard to achieve what it is. He will have zero regrets when he hangs up the spikes when- ever that will be due to knowing he gave it his all.” ■
Story By Brian Zimmerman
Photos by Kate Young