On May 23, the Savannah Bananas will bring their trademark brand of fast‑paced, entertainment‑focused baseball to Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, reviving a piece of the university’s sporting past.
A Century‑Old Diamond Revived
A hundred years earlier, students at the University of Tennessee erected a modest baseball diamond on the same grounds, now known as Shields‑Watkins Field, in just two days using volunteer labor and donated materials.
The newly installed diamond sits on the football field’s footprint, its dimensions calibrated to the Bananas’ unconventional style — home plate tucked near the northwest corner, a short left‑field wall created by the visitors’ sideline stands, and a deep right‑field stretch in the south end zone.
The construction echoed the early 20th‑century effort that began in 1912, when a $25,000 gift from trustee William Shields and his wife Alice Watkins Shields helped fund the project, and a March 16, 1921, Campus Day saw more than 800 students, faculty and staff rally to finish the field in a single day.
The first games that spring included an exhibition on March 17, 1921, featuring celebrity players Bill Meyer, Roy Massey and Frank Calloway, followed two days later by a 7‑6 loss to Cincinnati that marked the first intercollegiate contest on the new diamond.
Although Tennessee baseball moved to Lower Hudson Field in 1951, the legacy of Shields‑Watkins endures, now celebrated by the Bananas’ return and the renewed interest in the university’s early multi‑sport ambitions.