FRISCO, Texas - The phenomenon known as "Banana Ball" has been captivating baseball fans all over the country for the past few years, injecting its brand of joy and fan experience into our nation's pastime.  As the excitement continues to grow, the organization has expanded to four teams for this upcoming season and a former member the Etta Express has been signed to play on one of those teams.  Brett Carson has signed to play this summer with the newly formed Texas Tailgaters.
 
"First and foremost, I want to thank God for this opportunity," said Carson. "I'm very blessed and thankful for this opportunity. I'm extremely excited to meet a lot of new people and make differences in people lives! It's always been a dream of mine, since I was little, to play in big league stadiums and I'm excited to get to do that."
 
The Texas Tailgaters is an independent professional team owned by Fans First Entertainment, the same group that owns the wildly popular Savannah Bananas, as well as the Party Animals, and the Firefighters. Each one of the teams will play each other throughout the upcoming season at ballparks around the country.  Some games will take place at some large football stadiums, similar to the exhibition game that the Bananas played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida last March.  In that game, they drew an attendance of 65,000 fans.
 
Carson played two highly productive seasons for Marietta after transferring from Muskingum University back in 2021.  Carson achieved All-American status in 2023 and was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year. He was also a four-time All-OAC pick, including three times on the first team.  Upon graduation, Carson signed a professional contract to play for the Rocky Mountain Vibes of the Pioneer League, batting .386.  The next year, he hit .317 for the Pioneer League's Oakland Ballers.  This year, Carson will use his skills to perform in this high-energy, entertaining, and interactive experience.
 
"I was selected from a prospective player group of over 1,000 applicants to attend one of seven tryouts," said Carson of the selection process. "After going to the tryout, I was very blessed to receive a contract for this upcoming year and took it with no hesitation. Again, thank you to the good Lord for making this possible."
 
Carson will have to learn the rules of Banana Ball.  Those rules include: the batter is out if a fan catches a foul ball, a two-hour time limit on all games, there are no walks but rather ball four sprints, and more.  One particularly fun rule that Carson could use to his advantage is the rule that batter can steal "first".  On any pitch of an at-bat, the hitter can try to steal first base, usually on a passed ball or wild pitch.  Another skill Carson will have to master, if he does not already know how to, is dancing.  The Bananas perform a unique choreographed dance number every game and it is expected that the Tailgaters, Firefighters, and the Party Animals will do so also.
 
Carson will undoubtably play in front of sold out crowds this season.  Since its inception, the Bananas have sold out every game, over 200 and counting, with over one million people on the wait list to get a ticket.  According to their schedule, Tailgaters' games of closest proximity will take place at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati June 13-14 and at PNC Park in Pittsburgh August 29-30, and there is currently ticket availability for those games.  To inquire about tickets, go to bananaball.com/tickets.

Fans can follow the Etta Express all year long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on X and Instagram.