Sports broadcaster’s journey from Arkansas to Georgia Party Animals banana ball team

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The World Series just wrapped up, but another sport is also turning heads. One that is pretty new to all of us is banana ball.

The Savannah Bananas organization created the sport, and it's taking Arkansan Drake Toll across the country.

It's not your typical baseball game in fact it's not really even baseball.

The Savannah Bananas organization is the definition of being opposite of normal. It's in a league of its own, literally banana ball is a sport within itself.

"Our organization is built on 11 principles, one of those being whatever is normal do the exact opposite," Toll said.

Four teams make up the Savannah Bananas organization: The Savannah Bananas, Party Animals, the Firefighters and the Texas Tailgaters.

"When the Party Animals and [Savannah] Bananas play, I represent the team with the fans with the players in the dugout and on the sidelines," Toll said.

With a fur coat, glasses, bright colors and a fun personality, Drake Toll leads the Party Animals broadcasts, providing a fan experience like no other at banana ball games.

"For those two hours, I've got a microphone on me, any time a guy hits a home run, I'm meeting him at home plate asking him what it was like hitting a home run in a major league baseball stadium," Toll said.

But how he got to performing in front of 40,000 or more, started with broadcasting to about 40, creating a broadcast program in his hometown of Vilonia as the voice of the eagles.

"I went from broadcasting games for 42 people in a gym in Clinton, between Vilonia and Wonder View, to standing in front of 45,000 people in Philadelphia in the home of the Phillies wearing a fur coat and dancing," Toll said.

He carried that love for sports broadcasting through his collegiate career and after that he saw an opening in the Bananas organization.

"When I initially got the call that I had landed an interview with Jessie Cole, the owner of the Bananas, I knew I was going to have to start out with a bang," he said.

It's safe to say he hit a home run with interview.

"So, I open the zoom call in a full suit, then I pretended to have Wi-Fi issues, cut my camera. It took me eight seconds. I pulled the suit off, had a vest on shirtless with pit vipers and a beer in hand, and hit play, Pony by Genuine, and then I did the camera back on I said, 'Did I miss anything?'"

He's been there ever since.

Through every game, appearance and broadcast, he holds tight to his Arkansas values, always remembering he was an eagle before a party animal.

"Every bio that I have has Vilonia, Arkansas, and it always will, because I carry that hometown with me through every picture with a fan, every autograph, Vilonia is represented," Toll said.

He travels the country representing Arkansas and hoping to inspire the next generation of sports broadcasters.

"If you're a kid in Vilonia or Greenbrier, or Beebe or Springdale or Mountain Home, you can do it. Once you set your mind to something big, the big dream, just keep it at the forefront and attack it," Toll said.

The Party Animals are coming to Fayetteville next August and have a series in Baum Walker Stadium.

He guarantees it'll be a party like no other.