Texas Tailgaters’ outfielder Tre Jones (33) clicks his heels during his lineup entrance before Banana Ball at Daikin park, Saturday, Sept. 27, Houston, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez/ The Cougar.
After the final out at a Texas Tailgaters game, Tre Jones trades his glove for a guitar. He climbs out of the dugout, weaves through the stands, and steps onto the stage just outside Daikin Park, smiling as he breathes in the hometown air.
The show isn’t over yet. As fans make their way out of the stadium, Jones launches into a set of country hits, turning the ballpark’s exit into his own concert venue.
The scene has become a regular one for the former University of Houston outfielder, who earned his spot with the Texas Tailgaters, a Banana Ball team, after auditioning following his college career.
With encouragement from friends, Jones, who has been both a ballplayer and guitarist since around kindergarten, decided to take a swing.
“On the website it says, ‘Send in a video. We don’t want your home runs, we don’t want your doubles or anything you did during the season. Send us something that’s different,’” Jones said.
So he did.
A guitar solo of Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton landed him a spot, giving him the rare chance to chase both of his lifelong passions on the same field.
“I never thought I would ever be able to do both at one point, at one time,” Jones said. “I thought it was going to be one or the other, and that’s how it’s always been. Up until this point, when I saw I could do both here, I was like, I’ve got to jump on this opportunity.”
Before going Bananas
Jones, a graduate of Houston’s Jersey Village High School, began his college career at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. After his junior season, he entered the transfer portal, and when a friend from Houston reached out, the decision to head to UH was easy.
“That was probably the best decision I made in college ball,” Jones said. ”I heard of an old teammate from high school playing at Houston and I didn’t have to take any other visits, I didn’t talk to anybody else. I said ‘yep that sounds perfect for me.’”
The demands of college athletics left him with little time for other passions, especially the quieter ones. When friends and teammates visited Jones’ apartment, they often noticed a guitar resting on a stand and would ask about it.
“They expect me to play a couple strings,” Jones said. “Then I rip out a solo, and they’re like, ‘Why didn’t we know about this? Why are you just now doing this, and you’ve been here the whole time?’ I kind of keep it lowkey sometimes, but when I do it, I do it.”
That same mentality has stayed with Jones since he first tipped over a guitar.
“I was messing around with someone’s guitar at a family function and ended up knocking it over,” Jones said. “Instead of someone yelling at me, the guy who owned it picked it up and showed me how to play a chord or two.”
After that, Jones told his parents he wanted a guitar. They bought him a “cheap one from Walmart,” which he played every single day.
“Once they realized it wasn’t something I was going to get tired of in a couple of days, they got me a real one,” Jones said.
What started as a mistake propelled him to perform the National Anthem at the Fertitta Center and play at local mega churches. His experiences equipped him to showcase both his guitar skills and baseball talent in front of sold-out stadiums, flips included.
Houston homecoming
After performing across the country all summer long, the final two days of the 2025 Banana Ball World Tour brought Tre Jones back to his hometown and onto the field at Daikin Park. On the second day, he stepped up to the plate, ripped off his Tailgaters jersey to reveal a Houston one underneath, and saluted a crowd of over 40,000, including family members, friends and former coaches.
Despite the hype surrounding Banana Ball, Jones still values the simple moments spent shining on the diamond despite performing in front of millions across ballparks, live streams and social media.
“When we did the tryout, when I was first starting with this, there was nobody at the tryout, and we were still doing the same thing we’re doing here,” Jones said. “That was when I realized this is the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball. The atmosphere was awesome.”
“It’s cool to be able to play in front of all these people, all these kids, and my family, but the end-all-be-all is we’re playing this game. It’s different than baseball. It’s Banana Ball, and it’s so much fun and exciting to be a part of.”
Being part of it means performing from the moment the gates open and every moment in between. Players aren’t sitting in the dugout or standing idly on the field. Fans have to keep their eyes peeled at all times, because at any moment a player may break out a flip, trick or skit.
Being part of it also means arriving at the stadium early for rehearsals. It’s not just batting practice, it’s dance numbers, social media performances and individual talents that have to be dialed in. And for Jones, even after the two-hour game ends, his night is just getting started.
“Sometimes it gets pretty tiring, but at the same time I look at it like I get to do both the things I love so much,” he said. “If I’m a little tired of something, I just push through and move on to the next thing. I mean, it doesn’t get any better than this.”
sports@thedailycougar.com
