S.A. fan in banana suit hoped to bring Rangers luck
ARLINGTON — When Christian Saenz was shopping at a Spirit Halloween store in his hometown of San Antonio, he saw a banana costume and the idea for his viral moment was born.
Yes, that was a 13-year-old San Antonio junior high school student who caught everyone’s attention during Game 4 of the Astros-rangers American League Championship Series on Thursday at Globe Life Field.
Whenever Astros pitchers were trying to focus on their job and deliver a strike to Martín Maldonado, Christian went to work in a suite at field level directly behind home plate. Besides wearing the brightest yellow outfit imaginable, he also jumped up and down and waved his arms in every direction physically possible.
Christian had the attention of social media, which he didn’t hate, but the objective was catching the attention of Astros pitchers.
“When I was at the Spirit Halloween store, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I can wear this to the Rangers game and try to be a distraction to the Astros,’” he said.
While it’s unclear whether Christian actually was a distraction to anyone on the field, he said he did catch home-plate umpire Doug Eddings giving him a double take. There also was some anecdotal evidence that he was at least a good luck charm for the Rangers early.
Christian and his parents, Veronica and Albert Saenz, got to their seats in the ballpark’s Home Plate Suites late and missed the first inning when the Astros jumped out to a 3-0 lead. When Christian was in his spot in the bright yellow suit, the Rangers put up two runs in the second inning and another run in the third to tie things up.
Christian took off the banana costume when Astros were hitting, because “why would I want to distract my own pitcher?” But in the time he went to the restroom in the top of the fourth inning, the Astros had loaded the bases and later added four runs to take a 7-3 lead.
“Oh shoot, maybe I really am a good luck charm,” Christian said after realizing the bases were loaded with Astros. “I better stay here.”
Christian did stay there, but his magic touch seemed to wear off as the Astros went on to rout the Rangers 10-3, even as Christian continued his antics into the late innings.
As the phones of everyone in the suite started blowing up with text messages asking them if that was them with the “Banana Kid,” Christian was almost embarrassed.
“I don’t mind the attention if I’m in a crowd, but I don’t know about everyone talking about just me,” Christian said. “I was just trying to distract the Astros for my team. I wasn’t expecting all this (attention).”
But, after a few minutes, Christian had another thought.
“I’m just happy I’m making people smile,” he said. “That’s pretty cool.”