Tyler Gillum, like most baseball players and coaches, had a dream.
Gillum, who is in his eighth season as head coach of the Savannah Bananas (second as full-time coach), wanted to one day reach the major leagues as a player. But, like so many, he realized that it wasn’t meant to be.
So he set a new goal to reach. And he’s well on his way to accomplishing it.
“In 2017 I set a life goal to have a positive impact on one million people,” Gillum said. “On that journey it led me to the Savannah Bananas, because what we're trying to do is create what we call ‘Never forget’ moments for every fan that comes into a stadium to watch us.
“I think it's baseball injected with the most amount of energy that you can think of, and our fans love it.”
Gillum knew he wanted to be a coach as far back as his sophomore year of high school in Oklahoma. His mentor at that age, Eddie Collins – who recently became the all-time winningest high school baseball coach in the nation – had a profound effect on him as a person, which inspired him to lead young men on the baseball diamond at the junior college level.
“Collins broke the record with 2116 wins, and he’s a really good baseball coach. But he taught me more about life than he ever did baseball, so because of the impact he had on me I always knew I wanted to coach,” Gillum said. “When I went into coaching college baseball, I wanted to get to the Division I level or get to the pros ball but then I realized real fast that I really loved the JUCO level because I was able to have a positive impact on those type of guys and get to work with them all the time.
“While on that journey, what I realized is that setting a goal of having a positive impact on one million people was also the way that we do things with the Bananas. It's all about ‘Fans first’ with us. And you have an opportunity not just to impact players now, but to impact every fan that comes into the game to create a ‘Never forget’ moment. That's why I think Banana ball is so special.”
During their stay in Buffalo, Gillum – and the rest of the Bananas’ management team – have realized that their core beliefs and the City of Good Neighbors’ friendly demeanor have been a perfect match for one another.
“When we're having these negotiations with different cities to bring the Bananas to their town, the first thing we want to know is do they understand what the meaning of ‘Fans first’ is? Because that's our core value, and we're never going to waver on being ‘Fans first’ with everything we do,” Gillum said. “With that being said, Buffalo understands that completely.
“The crowds in Buffalo are the best crowds that we've ever seen. We love these football-type of crowds – we saw the same thing happen at LSU too, and some of these other cities that we go to that have a big football following. They always line up early with food and drinks and they’re ready to go, especially for the day games. Plus we've jumped through two tables for the Bills Mafia, so I think we're initiated here now. We love it here, and it's been a great stay for us.”
Featured Image Property of the Savannah Bananas
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