By Cole McNanna, Currier Times Correspondent ///

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Even though he was on the “road to the show” and spent four years in the New York Mets’ minor leagues, Hanover native and Indianapolis Clowns pitcher David Griffin quickly noted the last time he played baseball with such passion: a decade ago at Curry College.

While he’s not technically playing baseball anymore (banana ball is a version of baseball that combines the sport with entertainment at a fast pace), Griffin said the fan-first nature of the Banana Ball Championship League has allowed him to make a bigger difference in fans’ lives.

“I’ve honestly noticed for myself, I’ve made more of an impact on people’s lives playing banana ball than being in the minor leagues,” Griffin said after the Sept. 19 game against the Loco Beach Coconuts. “I’ve met people that have had cancer, are dying of cancer, and one of their wishes is to come to a game. So, we’re creating memories that people are going to remember for the rest of their lives.”

Griffin, the first former Curry Colonel to play banana ball, used that freedom to earn two Pitcher of the Month honors and become a Banana Ball All-Star. Altogether, Griffin’s present-day version likely would have made quite the impression on the young player in Hanover little leagues.

“Knowing what I was like as a kid, I would say adult David Griffin probably would have been his favorite player of all time,” he said.

An autograph trading tradition

Banana ball fans can earn autographs of their favorite players, coaches, cast members and mascots before and after games at “plaza parties” where teams mingle with crowds as part of the league’s fan-first mission. Griffin said a younger version of himself would sprint to secure his favorite player’s signature too, but the elder Griffin might have a trick up his sleeve — or on his hat.

Griffin said his autograph trading tradition dates back to early March during the Clowns’ second series of the season in Memphis, Tennessee. One signature seeker decided he wanted to autograph the pitcher’s hat in return, and it turned out to be the first of many signature exchanges.

“A boy with special needs asked me to sign his hat as I was walking out, so I said sure and got down on one knee, because he was a little small. I signed his hat, and he goes, ‘I want to sign your hat,’ grabs it out of my hand and he signed it right across the logo,” Griffin recounted. “Some people started noticing my hat had drawings, so everyone was asking questions. I was like, ‘You guys want to sign the hat?’ And it just built from there and really steamrolled. And then kids, I started to notice, would come out of their shells if I get them to sign something, and you could see the excitement.”

Indianapolis manager Errick Fox, who has been in banana ball since its inception in 2018, said the next closest thing he remembered was that one player had his jersey filled with autographs, but never anyone’s hat.

“That’s when I thought, ‘Okay, he’s bought in on what we’re really trying to create.’ He’s trying to create those never-forget moments for the fans and for those young kids who are gonna remember that as they get older,” Fox said Sept. 19 at Rickwood Field. “We watched the game as young kids, and we remember our first interaction with the pro ballplayers. That’s what we’re giving to these kids, and it’s something that we take pride in. That’s something that DG has definitely taken pride in.”

Griffin said he went through nearly a dozen hats over the six-month season and long-term plans for the hats’ residency were still to be determined. His level of commitment was lauded by his skipper, who said it’s not easy to find former professional players who go all in with the fans.

“I love the fact that he’s bought in on what we’re trying to do here,” Fox said. “A lot of guys that come from the pro level, it’s hard to break away from that gap between the fans and the player. But as soon as David got here, he completely bought in.”

Homegrown hero turned teammate

Fox provided another example of a quick buy-in from a former professional player with ties to Boston in this year’s top overall selection of the Banana Ball Player Draft: outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr.

A 12-year MLB veteran, Bradley Jr. was drafted by the Boston Red Sox and spent nine of his seasons playing home games at Fenway Park, about a 10-mile drive from the Curry campus. Bradley Jr. was an All-Star in 2016 and was the American League Centerfield Gold Glove winner in 2018, the same year Griffin graduated college. Bradley Jr. finished that postseason as the ALCS MVP en route to a World Series title.

Griffin said it did indeed take a while for the starstruck feeling to fade, but since then he has only grown closer to his friend Jackie.

“I grew up watching this man. And the fact that I get to share a baseball field — he was probably the best defensive outfielder of our generation that we’ve seen,” Griffin said. “I’ll be talking to my friends and I’ll say, ‘Oh, Jackie did …’ and they’re like, ‘Who?’ And I say, ‘JBJ,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh wow.’ Or I’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, Jack and I are going golfing.’ And they’re like, ‘Jack?’ and I’m like, ‘Bradley Jr.?’”

Two of the major reasons Bradley Jr. said he decided to even play banana ball were to pay homage to those who came before him as well as give back to the next generation.

“It’s definitely an interesting dynamic. The average age in this league is probably 24 or something like that so I’ve got most of them by 12-plus years,” Bradley Jr. said before Sept. 19’s game. “And a lot of guys have seen me play, so they all have interesting stories. It’s different because it reminds me of when I was younger.”

From his perspective in the outfield, Bradley Jr. quickly learned what many at Curry already knew about Griffin, not only as a pitcher but as a teammate as well.

“He’s a competitor, he’s somebody who wants the ball. He wants that opportunity to be able to prove what he can offer, and he offers a lot,” Bradley Jr. said. “He’s a dynamic pitcher who has made it pretty high in baseball, and his athletic ability, his talent and his tenacity prove that. He’s a guy who always has your back, and he’s trying to put the team on his back at the same time.”

A similar sentiment was echoed by another former major leaguer who hoisted the commissioner’s trophy as a World Series champion.

Ryan Howard played 13 seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was the 2005 National League Rookie of the Year, 2006 NL MVP and 2009 NLCS MVP on top of a championship ring in 2008. He serves as the primetime coach of the Indianapolis Clowns and was called upon for pinch-hitting opportunities against the Savannah Bananas in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Loco Beach Coconuts in Birmingham, Alabama.

“He plays with attitude. He plays with a chip on his shoulder, which is great. He’s got some good stuff,” Howard said before Sept. 19’s game against the Coconuts. “He’s come up and had his good games for us, so he’s a guy that we look at to help carry us when we need it. And he’s not afraid to put us on his shoulders, literally.”

Not the size of the dog in the fight

Some may still believe you have to go to a big school to get noticed and make it to the professional leagues. But Griffin is another reminder that “what counts is not the size of the dog,” nor what division of athletics that dog played in college.

“You see he plays with a with a chip on his shoulder, and the thing about it is: D1 or D3 doesn’t matter. If you can play, you can play,” Howard said. “That’s the key, because you handle the business on the field, regardless. You may have guys that develop later, they could be late bloomers.”

“It doesn’t matter where you come from,” Bradley Jr. said. “The only thing that matters is getting the job done and executing when it matters most.”

Another Clown to have found a fruitful “alternate” path in baseball is pitching coach Tony Voiro, who was on the coaching staff of the College of Central Florida Patriots when they won the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I national championship.

“He’s given us the best chance to win as a starter since day one. His knowledge of pitching and the way he attacks it is far more vast than most people may think,” Voiro said after Sept. 20’s game in Birmingham, Alabama. “He’s a big asset to us as a pitching staff and he likes to help everybody out. He really loves talking about how to attack hitters and what their weaknesses are.”

But Voiro also said that when it’s his day to start, Griffin’s teammates know to steer clear.

“He’s one of those guys that when he pitches, you just leave him alone because he’s so in the zone and so in attack mode that any little thing you say, he’s probably gonna bite your head off,” Voiro said. “So, when he’s out there doing his thing he gets outs, we let him come in, do whatever he wants, and he just keeps being a big part of how we created this team.”

For Griffin, he said his underdog mentality has been with him since his days at Curry.

“When some people that don’t know me just assume stuff about me, I’ve got to prove them wrong,” Griffin said. “I’ve always had chip on my shoulder like that, being a D3 guy.”

Curry reunions from coast to coast

He’s used that chip on his shoulder to turn his favorite sport into his job, where he helped the Clowns sell out all 60 of their games across 20 different states.

But no matter how far from home he went, there were familiar faces waiting. Outside of his homecoming series in New England, Griffin also caught up with former Colonel teammates on the nationwide tour.

“Phil Perez, him and his wife Heather, they were at the Round Rock (Texas) game,” Griffin said. “And then when we went to California, I had Justin Cage there and his family.”

However, the largest contingent of friends and family filled the stands at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford, Connecticut, when Indianapolis took on the Party Animals for a three-game series in July.

Griffin said he used his full allotment of 100 player tickets and then purchased about a dozen more. As the game approached, though, he found himself less nervous about his upcoming performance on the mound and more so for his performance in between innings.

“I was more nervous about dancing because I had to do the solo intro and all that stuff. That was something very different for me,” Griffin said. “Once I did it, it was really cool to see everybody because I surprised everybody. I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing.”

Someone who was in on Griffin’s act was, of course, his manager, who acknowledged his pitcher’s effort to embrace the music.

“He’s been working his butt off and going to dance classes and trying to engage himself more into the entertainment side of it,” Fox said. “Because we already know what he’s gonna bring to the table from an athletic and pitching side of it.”

The pitching side of things saw Griffin’s name called 24 times on the year, including 16 starts, where he tied for the league lead in total points earned for their team with 48. At the end of the regular season, he also ranked top 10 in sub-two-minute innings (11 for fourth), strikeouts (83 for fifth), total pitches (1,652 for sixth), innings pitched (95.2 for seventh), ERA (4.23 for ninth), minutes per inning (4:13 for ninth) and SHIP (ball-four-sprints plus hits over innings pitched: 1.45 for 10th).

Maybe all he needed was to reset after a strenuous journey in the affiliated ranks. Or maybe it was his passion for the game that needed a reset. Either way, Griffin said he’s found it in banana ball.

“Instead of, ‘What can the game do for me,’ it turned into, ‘What can I do for the game,’” Griffin recalled of his paradigm shift. “And once the perspective changed into giving back to the next generation, it brought the joy back of just enjoying the sport instead of being super competitive and very selfish with it.”