Jesse Cole Interview

Mark: Tell me about your upbringing.

Jesse: Since I was a kid, I never would have said that I wanted to own a baseball team. I just wanted to play the game—I was a kid who was hungry. I loved batting practice with my dad, throwing bullpens, and fielding ground balls. I fell in love with the game so much that my dad actually bought a baseball facility in Massachusetts where I could train all the time. I started training with the goal of playing professional baseball, and that was all I thought about. I can’t tell you how many times I visualized that phone call on draft day, hopefully from the Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, that call never came, but I did earn a full scholarship to play Division I baseball in South Carolina. Then, during my junior year, I tore my shoulder, which ended my baseball career.

Mark: What do you think led to the injury?

Jesse: It was 100% due to overuse. My freshman year in college, I threw 100 innings—the most anyone had ever thrown at that school. I was at Wofford College, and I wasn’t just pitching. I played the outfield or first base after pitching the first game of a double-header. I used my arm constantly. During the summers, I gave everything I had, throwing every pitch as hard as I could. By my junior year, my rotator cuff was completely torn. My coaches tried to get me in a place where I could pitch my senior year and hopefully play professionally, but the damage was too severe.

Mark: What was it like when you first got injured, knowing baseball was your whole life?

Jesse: I’m very lucky that when it happened, I was already working on a documentary film for my thesis project. I was filming our team that 2007 season when I found out I’d never play again. It was one of the most emotionally raw moments I’ve experienced. Realizing that you’ll never do what you thought you’d do for the rest of your life is devastating. I broke down completely.

But my dad gave me great advice: always stay positive.

So, I got an internship and decided to give it a shot. I learned that in moments of transition, the best thing to do is to start doing something. The internship didn’t pay, but I started cold-calling companies to sell $200 program ads to convince them to sponsor a college summer baseball team. During that process, I realized I loved getting people excited about coming to a ballgame. That’s when my next real journey began.

Mark: How long was it until you got the call to become a GM?

Jesse: It all started with that internship. I was competitive and thought, How can I maximize my time? I aimed for three to five meetings a day and worked through the entire phone book. The owner noticed I was making more sales than the entire staff combined, including the GM.

He said, “We have an opportunity with our team in Gastonia, North Carolina. Would you be interested in being the GM?” He was hesitant and skeptical, but he had nothing to lose because it was one of the worst-performing teams in the country.

Mark: You were 23. How did you get things rolling in that job?

Jesse: My first day was eye-opening. I discovered the team had only 200 fans coming to games, $268 in the bank, and had lost $100,000 the previous year. I made ten calls to the community that day, asking about the team. Seven people had never even heard of it, two people vaguely knew it, and the last person said they’d never work with us.

That’s when I realized we had a big problem—but I also saw a cool opportunity. Some of the greatest coaches prefer to take over teams on the bottom and build them up. I thought, We can’t get any lower than this.

I started meeting with companies, but every single one told me they didn’t like baseball. They said it was too long, too slow, and too boring. That’s when I knew we couldn’t just be a baseball team.

I called the owner and said, “We can’t be a baseball team anymore. We need to be like a circus.

Our players should perform choreographed dances, and we should host grandma beauty pageants.” Fortunately, he didn’t fire me, and I ran with the idea. We quadrupled attendance and started selling out games.

Mark: How does it work with the Savannah Bananas today?

Jesse: With the Savannah Bananas, we sell out every single game because we’ve created an experience. The players are a huge part of it, not for how they play baseball, but for how they entertain and are fan centric.

We’re all about entertainment and experience. Fundamentally changing the role of the players upset some people, but I believe that if you’re not upsetting anyone, you’re not doing anything interesting or different.

Our players are in music videos, and we do crazy things. Every player tells us it’s the most fun they’ve ever had playing baseball. We’re letting them enjoy the game without taking themselves too seriously. I never had that opportunity, and I hope we give it to all our players.

We stand against boring baseball. Our goal is non-stop fun and excitement. We’re here for the fans who deserve the game back—not just for the players, the money, or the owners.

Mark: What hardships have you faced along the way?

Jesse: Early on, we sold only a couple of tickets the first few months and ran out of money. My wife, Emily, and I had to sell our house and drain our savings account. It wasn’t until we truly captured our customers’ attention that things started to take off. We’re very fortunate but it took a lot of challenges and hardships to get here.

Mark: Do you have any advice for building a brand or starting a company?

Jesse: Experiment constantly. That’s how you learn and discover. It’s people who don’t actually test things that get held back.

For example, I wrote 159 blogs before I had the courage to release one. Then I started posting on LinkedIn every day, sharing value without expecting anything in return. When you take action, you start learning.

Creating an experience gives you social currency. We wanted fans to leave saying, “You won’t believe what happened at the stadium tonight!” Whether it’s a breakdancing first-base coach, a senior citizen dance team, or scratch-and-sniff banana-shaped tickets, it’s about giving customers memorable moments.

Every business can do this by mapping their customer experience and creating a story people want to share. Start by asking: What do I want my customers to say about me?

Mark: What legacy would you like to leave behind?

Jesse: I want to bring energy, fun, and positivity to lift people up. Life is about how you show up each day. When people think of you, do they smile? When you call, do they want to answer? I hope I’m someone people always want to answer because of how I make them feel.