Wearing Courage: The Meaning Behind the Bananas’ ‘The Firefighters’ Jersey

The Savannah Bananas baseball league has been taking the world by storm. For the upcoming 2026 season, the organization that now has six teams will be playing in front of 3.2 million fans throughout the year.

In 2024, The Firefighters made their debut as the organization’s third team behind the leadership of now-retired Corpus Christi, TX, firefighter Valerie Perez. While the league is about putting on a show for the fans, The Firefighters want to recognize and celebrate the hard work of the fire service to the maximum.

“I get to utilize the fire service, and I get to pay homage to the fire service and honor what I've been doing the last 10 years,” Perez told Firehouse.com. “That's one of the main reasons why I'm here, is to do exactly that, and I'm aware of that, being able to honor the fire service and explain that to my guys.”

Perez has done a phenomenal job instilling the idea that her team is playing for something bigger than themselves. They are playing for the fire service as a whole. 

“I feel like our brand is special,” remarked Perez. “Our brand reaches different depths than some of the other brands that are in our organization, and because of that, we're able to honor them. Our guys buy into that.”

During each game, The Firefighters will honor individual firefighters or a fire department to give recognition to those who put their lives on the line. In 2025, The Firefighters played at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 11 and were able to shake hands with survivors who responded on that tragic day, along with honoring the FDNY and those who lost their lives that day.

“The looks on their faces and the level of respect that my guys had for them, just meeting those guys really changed a lot of them, and it helped outline what we represent when we play,” said Perez.

Bradford Webb is one of those guys. Webb made his debut with The Firefighters in 2024 and is one of their most reliable right-handed pitchers. He recalled a message Perez gave the team prior to the 2025 season.

"Perez gave us a preseason meeting and looked us all in the eye and said when you put on this jersey, you're representing something bigger than yourself," Webb recalled. "You're representing the men and women around the country, around the world, that put their lives on the line for something bigger than themselves."

That message hit home with the entire team as Webb explained how much of an honor it is to put on that jersey.

“That's one of the things that really pulled me to the firefighter team when I was looking into this league," said Webb. "It was something that when you put on that jersey, you step out on the field, you are taking on a burden, almost, to carry yourself in a certain way, which is attractive to me. I want to live up to something higher, something bigger. The boys that we have do that every single game."

Even with the draft that switched teams around within the league, that idea holds true for the newcomers. Jared Donaldson is one them guys. He was drafted by Perez and is moving over from the Savannah Bananas team, where he has been since 2022. 

“I feel like putting on that jersey adds a whole new meaning to what we do," said Donaldson. "We've always saluted the troops throughout the game at Banana Ball games, and I feel like, now, having a jersey that is representing the firefighter community, it's more of a personal connection we can have. I feel just being able to honor the community and what they did for each city that we go to, it's big."

There is strong buy-in from the team considering Perez’s tenure in the fire service, and she sees that the players are genuinely interested in the fire service when they go visit fire departments. 

“Her being a firefighter, doing what she did, I feel like it just adds an even more meaningful perspective behind it,” Donaldson told Firehouse.com. “She’s somebody that you want to get out there every day and bust your butt for and give her your best.”

It’s a common theme that reaches beyond the players and coaching staff. The voice of The Firefighters, Zach Staton, sees the trickle-down effect of such a powerful message. Staton has a personal tie to the fire service because his father-in-law is a volunteer firefighter, and he’s been able to honor him throughout his work as a broadcaster for the team.

"It's sobering, humbling and it's an honor," said Staton. "It's something that you realize is much bigger than what you do with a microphone in your hands or between those white foul lines. It's something special. It's something that I can't wait for in 2026, because with us being the home team for a good amount of the weekends, we're going to get a chance to do that heck of a lot more."

The Firefighters is team that wants to build a community and a brand, and this is as authentic as it gets. Perez’s perspective, along with the whole organization, is that they aren’t doing what they do to recruit customers. They are recruiting fans.

"Customers are a transaction," said Perez. "We're trying to recruit fans. Fans are people who buy in and fall in love with the sport or the team or the brand."

Perez has seen a correlation between her time in the fire service and Banana Ball, as she reminds her team that they are giving a louder voice to firefighters that may not have it. 

"At the end of the day, when the tones drop, it's time to get to work and you go do your job," explained Perez. "That's what I'm trying to connect with my guys on the baseball side of things, it's very similar. There's a lot of parallels between the fire service and Banana Ball. The number one way you can honor whoever it is that you're playing for, whatever you're representing, is playing with integrity, playing hard, and right. The ethos that the fire service lives by."

As part of the team’s dedication to the fire service, the team deemed Fridays as “Firefighter Friday,” where each week a new firefighter, retired or current, is honored on their Instagram.

“I think the coolest part about what we're doing is we're not waiting until someone has lost their life,” said Station. “We are honoring people who have either retired or are still in the middle of their service to our communities. We get to give them their flowers, and that is something that you don't always get a chance to do. I think that's irreplaceable in the experience of the firefighter brand.”

The team wants to bring light and recognition to a profession that does so much for every community. The appreciation may not always be there, but The Firefighters are all in on trying to put it on everyone’s radar.

"I think pretty often people take things that are around them for granted," explained Webb. "The fire service is always there, and they're always doing their jobs well. I think that it slips our mind to thank folks like that. When we get to bring people out on Friday or Saturday games and they get a standing ovation from 50,000 people, it's just a moment to reflect and say all that work you put in, all those hours, the time, the sweat, the danger, it means something. They deserve that."

"When you're with The Firefighters, it just feels a little bit more concentrated," said Staton. You're honoring someone beyond baseball or banana ball. You're honoring way beyond the stadium. I think that's something that's important to all our guys, and all the staff that's involved. It's something that will last beyond the two-hour time limit that we have on a Banana Ball Championship League game."