Local pitcher fulfills dream as Savannah Bananas come to Philly: ‘It’s pretty surreal’

Party Animals’ Connor Higgins pitched at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday. (Ty Daubert, Phillies Nation)

Connor Higgins sat in the stands at Citizens Bank Park as a kid and dreamed of taking that mound in front of packed house.

It’s safe to say he never pictured himself wearing a Mummer’s suit as he did it.

Higgins, a left-handed pitcher from Allentown, Pa., reached a lifelong goal in an unconventional fashion on Saturday night as the Savannah Bananas, a popular entertainment-based barnstorming baseball team that plays its own version of the sport known as Banana Ball, put on an exhibition in Philadelphia. He suited up for the opposing Party Animals at the Bank in front of an announced crowd of 45,000, the largest attendance the Bananas have attracted to date.

He didn’t don red pinstripes — or even a baseball jersey — but Higgins toed the rubber in the ballpark he grew up attending. He spoke about what the opportunity meant to him in a conversation with Phillies Nation leading up to the game.

“It’s pretty surreal,” he said Friday during Bananas rehearsal.

Higgins, 28, grew up in the Lehigh Valley and loved the Phillies as a kid. His family often took him to games during the glory years of 2007 to 2011 as Philadelphia claimed five straight National League East division titles. He fell in love with baseball in the stands, rooting on the best teams in Phillies history.

“That was a good time to grow up as a Phillies fan,” Higgins said. “… Huge Phillies fan, especially Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee. Being a left-hander, they were my guys.”

A few times, Higgins went as a Phillies player for Halloween, sporting the cream alternate uniform as his costume. On Oct. 31, 2008, a 12-year-old Higgins skipped out on trick-or-treating to head to Philadelphia for the World Series parade. He remembers sitting on the first-base side — either Section 112 or 113 — as Chase Utley delivered his notorious “world (bleeping) champions” speech at Citizens Bank Park.

Those memories made his homecoming so much sweeter.

“I even stood on the mound today and got a little choked up,” Higgins said.

Once he got a little older, Higgins developed into a standout pitcher for Allentown’s Parkland High School. He graduated in 2015 and moved on to Arizona State, playing three seasons for the Sun Devils. The Angels then selected Higgins in the 30th round of the 2018 draft, and the lefty pitched professionally for four seasons in the minor leagues for Los Angeles and Arizona.

After struggling in Double-A and High-A in 2022, Higgins went home and trained, unsure of what was next. He received a call a month later from Berry Aldridge, the Bananas’ coordinator of Banana Ball operations.

Aldridge had an offer. The organization wanted Higgins to come down to Savannah, Ga., and try out to be a left-handed pitcher for the team. It wasn’t an easy decision.

Higgins had always been a serious pitcher with a hope of making the majors. His career hadn’t gone to plan, but leaving pro ball was difficult. Accepting a role with a gimmick team, baseball’s version of the Harlem Globetrotters, meant an end to that chapter of his pitching career and life. He ultimately decided to give it a go, and he was “hooked from Day 1.”

The former minor leaguer now throws yellow baseballs in games where fans can catch foul balls for outs, runners sprint around the bases on walks and players dance, walk on stilts and do backflips.

“I feel like this is the best route I could’ve chosen,” Higgins said. “I’m the happiest I’ve been these last two years playing ball. The minors can be a tough draw. … But this is a nice little alternative — I shouldn’t say alternative. This is a great path for me.”

The fun-loving Higgins joined the Savannah Bananas for their “world tour” last year before “an off-season trade” to the Party Animals for the 2024 season. To go back to the Globetrotters comparison, the Party Animals are no Washington Generals. They compete with the Bananas and bring an edge to the program. Higgins was more than happy to swap jerseys.

“We always joke about how the Bananas are for the kids and the Party Animals for the moms,” he said, smiling. “We’re more twerking and champagne and fireworks, and they’re more Disney Channel, as we kind of say. It fits my personality a little bit better.”

Touring with the Party Animals this year, Higgins has had the chance to play in four major-league stadiums with a fifth scheduled in October Miami’s loanDepot Park. None will be quite like his trip to Citizens Bank Park.

Higgins threw a scoreless two-thirds of an inning for the Party Animals in a 3-2 victory over the Bananas, securing a point in the third inning in the match-play scoring system. Decked out in a pink and black Mummer’s outfit that appeared to restrict his arm movement, he managed to shut down opposing hitters.

He performed while battling nerves, pitching in Pennsylvania for the first time since high school. Over 100 people from back home filled the seats to watch him. “Friends, family, grandparents, cousins, teachers — all you can think of here,” Higgins said.

Additionally, he shared the field with members of the team he grew up idolizing. Higgins entered right after Shane Victorino grounded out as a guest hitter for the Bananas. Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer pitched, while former NL MVP Ryan Howard appeared as the game’s “Golden Batter.”

Higgins danced onto the field as he entered the game, then danced off once he completed his outing. He had his moment and had fun with it. In Banana Ball, there was no other way for it to happen.

“Since I was probably 4 or 5, I wanted to pitch here … in Philadelphia,” Higgins said. “You know, life has a funny way. I thought it was going to be in a big-league uniform, but now it’s in a Party Animal uniform. But anyway, it’s an honor to put on the Party Animal uniform and play here and just step on that mound. It’s a little something special.”