The endearing thing about Banana Ball, the baseball variation made famous by the barnstorming Savannah Bananas, is that it knows exactly what it is: sports entertainment, a mash-up of pro wrestling and a circus, except on a baseball diamond instead of under a big tent. And like so much of American culture, the Bananas and the brand of ball they’ve used to fill major league stadiums over the past few years, are rooted in a slice of Black culture that never got its due.
Return of the Clowns, a new ESPN documentary that dropped on Juneteenth and now streaming, tries to shed light on the forgotten connection between Banana Ball and the Negro Leagues in the form of the Indianapolis Clowns. The Clowns were one of the original teams in the Negro American League and were famous in their heyday for several baseball firsts. They signed Hank Aaron to play pro ball months before the then Boston Braves came calling; the $10,000 the Braves paid for the future home run king’s contract helped the bootstrapping Clowns keep operating. The original Clowns were also the first team to sign women to play professional baseball; one of them, pitcher Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, who died in 2017, appears in the documentary as do some living members of the original franchise, which, after MLB’s integration, limped through a slow decline before finally folding in 1989.
Return picks up the story from there, walking viewers through Clowns history and how, after touring the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Bananas owner Jesse Cole recognized where the lineage of his brand of baseball—barnstorming, trick plays and a team not taking itself too seriously—originated. Since die-hard baseball fans often moonlight as historians, some might find the documentary diluted by veering into Bananas’ backstory. Cole’s journey from almost going broke after buying a struggling minor league team to making millions turning Banana Ball into a 13-team traveling spectacle is relevant to the Clowns’ story. It’s also been told enough, on ESPN, 60 Minutes and elsewhere, that this doc’s audience might not need the detour.
That’s a small complaint about a film that might be some people’s first introduction to the Clowns and their place in baseball history. Cole deserves credit for telling their story and for bringing the team back to life (spoiler alert: there’s a reason Banana Ball plays such a central role). The documentary also reintroduces more recent baseball heroes: Jackie Bradley Jr., who won the 2018 World Series with the Boston Red Sox now sports a Clowns uni. Mo’Ne Davis, who quit baseball after becoming first girl to throw a complete game shutout in the 2014 Little League World Series, returns to the mound and recounts the encouragement she got from Johnson.
With New York still high off the Knicks’ chip and the FIFA World Cup in full swing, baseball, of any stripe, might not be top of mind for some fans. That shouldn’t stop anybody from watching the story of the Clowns, who deserve a place in baseball’s lore and their current revival.
Return of the Clowns is streaming on ESPN.