Former Iowa City West prep Nick Fleckenstein is going bananas

It is a unique career choice, to become a Banana.

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But Iowa City West grad and occasional Lisbon resident Nick Fleckenstein is going for it. He is learning to be a player for the Savannah Bananas.

(Or a player on one of their growing list of expansion teams.)

For anyone who isn’t aware, the Bananas are an “exhibition barnstorming baseball team.” They play a brand of baseball known as Banana Ball, which includes a lot of strange rules. Plus they dance, interact with fans, and entertain while trying to compete and win.

“It is exciting to me,” Fleckenstein said. “The trick plays, the energy, the interaction with fans ... Getting to play the game at the next level, I couldn’t turn it down. Everything appealed to me.”

Fleckenstein wanted to stay in baseball after playing at five stops during his college career. For any player who doesn’t get drafted or signed by MLB, that means either independent baseball ... or the Bananas.

“A couple teammates of mine told me to pursue it,” Fleckenstein said. “I got a tryout and got my opportunity from there.”

Fleckenstein is back home in Iowa City and Lisbon for now. He was waiting to find out which team he’ll be playing with. In early 2026, he’ll go down to spring training in Georgia.

“They have six teams that travel around the country and play,” Fleckenstein said. “People compare it to the Harlem Globetrotters, but they are not the same. We want to entertain, but it is also a competitive game.

“There is no telling who is going to take the championship after every season. There’s more to it than the show. We play a competitive, well-rounded game of baseball.”

While the Savanah Bananas are the originals, and the league is based out of Savanah, Ga., there are five other teams — Party Animals, Firefighters, Texas Tailgaters, Loco Beach Coconuts and Indianapolis Clowns.

There also is a developmental team called The Visitors, which is where Fleckenstein will start his journey.

“I didn’t know for sure which team I’d be put on,” said Fleckenstein, who earned the right to play during a tryout process earlier this year.

The Bananas are scheduled to play two times inside Kinnick Stadium in July 2026. Fleckenstein would love the chance to play there, but it is largely out of his hands.

He’s going to appeal to the people who run the league, however.

“That’s something I’ll be interested in discussing with them when I get down there,” Fleckenstein said. “There is one other guy from Iowa. It’d be an opportunity to play in our home state.”

The teams all travel around the country. But moving around should not bother Fleckenstein, who played for five different colleges over five years.

He started at Missouri Western State, then left for Lassen Community College in California, then transferred to the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma for one year, then one year at Columbia College (Mo.). He finished at Bradley in Peoria, Ill.

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“I bounced around,” Fleckenstein said. “At Missouri Western, with COVID, there were older cats coming back to play a sixth and seventh year, and I didn’t want to split time. So I transferred out.”

After his year at USAO, he tried to transfer to Oakland (Mich.), but the transfer rules at the time would not let him go. He eventually got to a D-I school with Bradley.

“It was a heck of a journey,” Fleckenstein said. “It was always hard to change coaches, change teammates. It was heartbreaking to leave guys, but I kept looking at the bigger picture.”

And while transferring his credits and transcripts was a lot of work, he got his bachelor’s degree, and then a masters in nonprofit leadership.

Nick’s father, Mike Fleckenstein, is an assistant baseball coach at Cornell College.

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Mike was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1991 out of Dubuque Hempstead, before a Hall of Fame college career with the St. Ambrose Bees.

He is excited about his son’s chance to play with the Bananas. “It is a great opportunity for him to continue his baseball career,” Mike said. “Over 1,300 tried out, and he was one of 12 that (made it).”

Mike is old school but appreciates what the Bananas are trying to do.

“It brings in an audience that baseball doesn’t have; people that have lost interest,” Mike said. “It is still high-level baseball, which is impressive.”

And make no mistake, Nick will get a nice salary. He’s a pro. He’s getting paid to play baseball.

“I told him financially, it is better than minor league baseball,” Mike said. “And the longevity could be greater. In the minors, a few bad months, and you’re gone. If you become a fan favorite, pull off some tricks and get a following, he can ride this wave for a few years.”

To that end, Mike has helped Nick boost his social media presence on TikTok and Instagram.

Baseball always has been one of the ties that bind father and son, so Nick is excited that his dad is excited about this opportunity.

“He’s been so inspirational in my career,” Nick said. “He loves the fact I’m able to play on. It keeps him young, too, keeping up with me.”

The pair can often be found working out at Cornell.

“I was fortunate to coach him on travel teams since he was 7,” Mike said. “It was tough when he was gone to California, to Oklahoma. I love it when he is home. It is nice to have him home again.”

Mike noted Nick was born at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, so it’d be nice if he got to play at Kinnick. Nick got to play at Duane Banks Field last spring when Bradley played at Iowa.

His baseball journey has been wild, but Nick has a good perspective.

“I’d play baseball the rest of my life if I could,” he said. “But as you get older, you can only play for so long. I have the opportunity to play beyond college. It is a blessing. God willing I can stay healthy and injury-free, and play baseball as long as possible.”

Comments: ryan.suchomel@thegazette.com

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