Philly native Ivan Traczuk grew up at the Vet, beat cancer, and now helps the Savannah Bananas go viral

Ivan Traczuk will sometimes boil hot dogs on the stove, allowing himself to drift back to Veterans Stadium and remember his father lugging a Thermos of franks and hot water to the 700 Level for a Phillies game.

“We’d bring our own buns, too,” Traczuk said.

Those hot dogs are a memory Traczuk, 29, clung to after his father died in 2003 from cancer. The Philly kid grew up a fanatic thanks to a dad who sped home from church on Sundays to avoid missing a 1 p.m. kickoff, emptied the swear jar to buy ice cream after a tough loss, and brought his own dogs to the cheap seats.

John Traczuk molded his son into a sports fan — which has been helpful, as Traczuk is now the director of creative content for the wildly popular Savannah Bananas baseball team — and the father’s battle with cancer gave his son the will when he faced his own fight.

» READ MORE: Meet the Savannah Bananas before they take over Citizens Bank Park

Ivan Traczuk was diagnosed with testicular cancer in December 2017 at the age of 22, midway through a one-year graduate program at Syracuse. He underwent chemotherapy, lost his hair, never stopped going to class, and was declared cancer-free a month before he received his master’s degree with an Eagles jersey under his graduation robe.

“I was very determined,” Traczuk said. “I didn’t want this to affect my future at all. It’s funny to say that out loud, but there was never a moment that I didn’t think I was going to win this battle. Knowing how things went with my father, it was interesting to have that mindset, even though his was much more difficult.”

The Savannah Bananas have more TikTok followers (8.8 million) than any major league team and more Instagram followers (2.7 million) than Bryce Harper. A former summer team for college baseball players, the Bananas now sell out major league parks across the country thanks largely to their ability to master social media.

Their game on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park has been sold out for months, and there’s a waiting list for their home games in Georgia. The Bananas are hot as they built their brand — think baseball’s Harlem Globetrotters — by hitting home runs on social media while neglecting traditional advertising.

The team has built a rabid fan base of young fans — the same audience Major League Baseball is desperate to attract — who digest their clever posts, many of which are created by Traczuk and his team. It’s the perfect job for a kid who spent his Holy Communion money on a camcorder and filmed a parody video of a Katy Perry song as a way to teach order of operations to his math class.

“I’ve always done these fun types of things,” said Traczuk, who was born in Philly before moving to Quakertown and then Ocean City. “Now, if you look at those eighth-grade projects, I’d like to think the quality is a little higher and I’ve learned the rule of thirds. But one of our core values is fun.”

» READ MORE: Who are the Savannah Bananas? Here’s what to know before they play at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday.

The Bananas were launched in 2016 by Jesse and Emily Cole after minor-league baseball left Savannah the previous year. They sold out that first summer in the Coastal Plain League and introduced “Banana Ball” in 2020. The zany take on baseball includes rules in which foul balls are outs if a fan in the stands makes the catch, walks and bunts don’t exist, games have a two-hour limit, and extra innings feature a pitcher and just one fielder. Banana Ball became so popular that they ditched the collegiate summer league last year and now only play by their rules.

“You can be the best baseball player in the world,” Traczuk said. “But if you don’t want to salsa dance to the plate, then we don’t want you.”

Each piece of Bananas content has to meet three requirements before it’s posted on social media: It has to put the fans first, make baseball fun, and be shareable. Traczuk and his team ask each other while they’re brainstorming ideas if this is a post they would send to, say, their aunt or college roommate. If so, it’s probably a viral slam. If not, they’ll keep swinging.

A post this month of a player coming to home plate on cross-country skis and hitting a 430-foot homer in ski boots generated almost 35,000 likes. A YouTube video of Bananas playing “Don’t Break The Ice” has more than 5 million views and a TikTok of a pitcher leading his infielders in a choreographed dance between pitches has nearly 100 million views.

“We went all-in on the experience and social media is a by-product of what we do,” said Jesse Cole, who acts a ringleader each game while wearing a yellow tuxedo and top hat. “The name of our company is Fans First Entertainment. Every decision we make, we ask, ‘Is it fans first?’ We have no ticket fees, no service fees, no convenience fees, no shipping fees on merchandise. In Savannah, all of our tickets are all inclusive with burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, soda, popcorn, water, all of that.

“We wanted to create a remarkable experience and then said, ‘Hey, what can people see at a game that they’ve never seen before?’ A breakdancing coach, a senior-citizen dance team, a male cheerleading team, a player on stilts. We wanted to make an experience that created you-wouldn’t-believe moments for our fans so every night they leave the stadium and say, ‘You wouldn’t believe what I saw at the game tonight.’ Then the by-product of that is instead of marketing and saying, ‘Hey, everyone, come out to our games,’ we just filmed and captured what we did at our games and shared it on social media. Then that created more buzz and more demand for what we’re doing.”

Traczuk was showering at his sister’s apartment in February 2018 when his hair started to fall out. Hours earlier, he was on Broad Street celebrating the Eagles’ Super Bowl win on his birthday and remembering his dad. And now he was going bald two weeks after starting chemotherapy.

“I was just pulling it out and saying, ‘I don’t care. The Birds are champs. This is the best day ever,’” Traczuk said.

Traczuk discovered a lump on his right testicle three months earlier but decided to act like everything was normal. His family was rocked when Traczuk’s father died, so he didn’t want to introduce another cancer battle. The lump was still there a few weeks later. Traczuk finally called his mother, who told him he had to get to the hospital. A biopsy revealed he had cancer, just like his dad.

“When we lost my father, my entire family thought, ‘OK. This was the one. Cancer won’t affect us again.’ I think the diagnosis was way harder for my mom and sister to hear because it churns up all of those emotions, and you think, ‘We have to go through this again,” Traczuk said. “I had and still do have plans for my life. I knew I wasn’t done on this earth. I still had more to offer. I had a higher purpose that I had not yet fulfilled.”

John Traczuk grew up in Northern Liberties, went to North Catholic, and worked at The Inquirer‘s printing plant as a building engineer. He proposed to his wife, Jane, on the side of I-95 after being stuck in traffic and unable to wait any longer. He raised his son to be a Philadelphia sports fan, the kind who thought the Phillies were doomed in 2008 when the rain started yet celebrated the Super Bowl title before the clock ran out.

John Traczuk was diagnosed with throat cancer when his son was 5 years old, and the disease eventually spread to his tonsils and lungs. John Traczuk spent three years undergoing surgery and chemotherapy before dying on March 6, 2003, just a few weeks before the final Phillies season at Veterans Stadium.

“Losing him at 8 years old and him really only being healthy up to 5, it’s tough,” said Ivan Traczuk, who has two older sisters, Amanda and Ashley. “I go through milestones and markers and think, ‘Wow. I’ve officially lived a life longer without my father than with.’ He didn’t see me graduate, he didn’t see me get my first job, and he’s not going to see me get married. He’s not going to see his daughters get married and walk them down the aisle.”

Ivan Traczuk split his chemotherapy treatments between Philly and upstate New York as he finished his work at Syracuse. He landed a job at MLB Network and joined the Bananas in 2022 after a coworker became the team’s broadcaster. Traczuk caught a game at the Bananas ballpark in Savannah and knew he wanted in.

“I saw the craziness,” Traczuk said. “The next Tuesday, I’m on the phone with the owner trying to get a job.”

Traczuk will be back in South Philly on Saturday night, working in the ballpark that replaced the stadium where his dad brought his own hot dogs. Ivan Traczuk is not sure if his father — “a baseball purist,” the son said — would understand Banana Ball, but he knows his dad would be proud to see his son on the same field the Phillies use.

It is Traczuk’s job to help plan the Bananas’ show as they fill each game with clever dances, silly skits, and celebrity surprises. A former Phillies player could join the Bananas for a night. Then he and his team will decide what to post on social media from the night as the Bananas grow their reach even more.

For Traczuk, it’s a big night at the ballpark of the team he grew up rooting for. And maybe he’ll bring his own hot dogs.