Episode Details

The hottest ticket for a game in town isn’t for the Chicago Cubs or White Sox.

A new barnstorming league of dancing ballplayers making national headlines and packing football stadiums for reimagining the stodgy rules of America’s pastime have sold out Sox Park for two nights between Aug. 15-16.

More than 182,000 people applied to a lottery just for the chance to buy tickets to see the Savannah Bananas play one of their traveling foils, The Firefighters, at Sox Park for the debut of “Banana Ball” in Chicago this summer.

Host - Jon Hansen

Reporter - Mack Liederman

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Block Club Chicago is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit news organization dedicated to delivering reliable, relevant and nonpartisan coverage of Chicago's diverse neighborhoods. We believe all neighborhoods deserve to be covered in a meaningful way.

We amplify positive stories, cover development and local school council meetings and serve as watchdogs in neighborhoods often ostracized by traditional news media.

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Our neighborhood-based reporters don't parachute in once to cover a story. They are in the neighborhoods they cover every day building relationships over time with neighbors. We believe this  ground-level approach not only builds community but leads to a more accurate portrayal of a  neighborhood.

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Since our launch seven years ago, we've published more than 30,000 stories from the neighborhoods, covered hundreds of community meetings and send daily and neighborhood newsletters to more than 150,000 Chicagoans. 

We've built this loyalty by proving to folks we are not only covering their neighborhoods, we are a part of them. 

Some of us have internalized the national media's narrative of a broken Chicago. We aim to change that by celebrating our neighborhoods and chronicling the resilience of the people who fight every day to make Chicago a better place for all.