Not a baseball buff ? What if we promised the visual aspect of fluffy dogs ?
The seemingly numberless list of thing the COVID-19 pandemic canceled or postponed include 2020 ’s Minor League Baseball season , costing new prospects either a worthful developmental season or their job altogether .
But there is one very , very young chance in the New York Yankees system who was able-bodied to keep his progress on racecourse . That would be Dash , a 10 - calendar month - oldgolden retrieverpuppy who ’s breeding to become the Trenton Thunder ’s next bat frank .
Eric Lipsman, Trenton Thunder
If the season begins next April — and let ’s all trust it does — Dash will debut as the Thunder ’s 4th cricket bat dog , partake game with the squad ’s current bat dog , the beloved Rookie . It ’s a lengthiness of what ESPN accurately dubbed " the kinsfolk business . "
" Dash is coming along really well , " says Shelly Leibowitz , owner ofGreen Leaf Pet Resortand the bat dogs ' trainer . " He has a bit more driving force than perhaps the other dogs did , but with his training he ’s come along just hunky-dory . He ’s got a delightful disposition , loves everybody , and enjoys his training . "
The Thunder , which is the Yankees ' two-fold - A affiliate , has employed cricket bat frankfurter since 2002 . Chase , whose semblance still hang above the stands at Arm and Hammer Park , was the team ’s first bat dog . Derby , Chase ’s son , start in 2010 , and worked with his pappa for a couple years . Derby ’s son Rookie began as a pup in 2014 , and the two do work together for several years . They ’re all golden retriever .
While he ’s related to to Rookie , Dash is the first bat wienerwurst outside of the granddaddy - father - boy melodic line . He ’s Rookie ’s full cousin .
Eric Lipsman , fourth-year vice president of corporate cut-rate sale for the Trenton Thunder and Rookie and Dash ’s human dad , is desire Dash and Rookie , 6 , will be able-bodied to share their bat dog duties next time of year . Ideally , Rookie will work his two innings , and then Dash would get one to start out . ( Last affair you want to do is look sharp a prospect along . )
" We require to check that when April come , he ’s quick , " Lipsman aver .
Life of a Bat Dog
For those unfamiliar , here ’s what a bat wienerwurst does . When roaring instrumentalist hit the orchis into play , they drop their bats and run toward first base . When the play end , Rookie bleed out , forgather the bat in his backtalk and return to the bunker . Usually the job is done by not - nigh - as - fluffy children and stripling , squash racket son and bat girl .
( Rookie ishardly the only baseball dogaround the county , either . Some are bat andiron like Rookie , and others have dissimilar job , like play umpires their water . )
Like his gramps and father before him , Rookie hold the chiropteran softly in his mouth , quash teeth marks , and returns it to the dugout . And like any member of the Yankee establishment , he knowsthat pine tar is not to be mess up with .
" Here ’s a pro tip : Always snaffle the bat by the rich terminal . The skinny end is covered in this sticky guck that gets stuck in your teeth , and it is gross , " says Derby , in a voice narrated by Bob Peterson ( who played Dug in Pixar’sUp ) in an ESPN mini - documentary .
That ESPN story focused on Rookie ’s arrival and his meter spent with his dad Derby . It was typeset to culminate with Rookie ’s first prospect at retrieving a bat during a plot . In terms of implementation , it go awfully . In terms of comedy involving a precious domestic dog : full marks .
If you did n’t find out the television above , Rookie sprint out of the dugout with no esteem for the baseball bat he ’s presuppose to take in , takes a quick trial around the infielder , trots around foul district for a minute , and then goes out to travel to the Portland Sea Dogs ' middle fieldsman before returning to the infield .
" He was not ready , " Lipsman says . ( He and Leibowitz both say ESPN asked Rookie to make his debut out front of agenda so they could get it on camera . )
Since then , though , Rookie has been pretty much perfect , Lipsman tell , both in Trenton and when he travel to the Yankees ' other minor - league squad .
If the scag played this time of year , Rookie would ’ve retrieved at-bat for the first two innings — doing it for a full three - hour game is a hatful to demand — and then met with his adore fans in the stadium ’s confluence . He ’s a " Jersey icon " with his own baseball game cards anda bobblehead once upon a time .
Friends: Old and New
Part of Rookie ’s day during the season means he gets to the ballpark early like the players and spends time playact with them as they relax up . That mean he get to make out the Yankees ' next champion , not to mention theYankee superstars who make for with the Thunder during rehab assignment .
Lipsman say Rookie loves current Yankeebaseball - destroyerAaron Judge , buthis best bud is infielder Gleyber Torres . Both man were with the Thunder in Rookie ’s puppy days .
" He love Gleyber Torres , " Lipsman says . " When we went to Yankee Stadium in 2019 and he saw Gleyber , he was so excited . "
Of course , Rookie ’s very good friend was Derby . They spend almost all their meter together . When Derby died in 2018 , Rookie was waste — just like Derby was when Chase died five years earlier .
" You could just see how down Rookie was without consume Derby around , " Lipsman says .
He was n’t alone for very long , though . The Thunderintroduced baby Dash earlier this year . The two retrievers are catch along great now , but the offset of their human relationship feature some puppy trick . ( Dash is a fleck more energetic than his harbinger . )
" He would just jump all over Rookie , " Lipsman say . " Rookie would be out of doors and Dash would just barrel into him . "
Training the Next Bat Dog
Trenton ’s Arm and Hammer Park was shutter during the normal time of year , but Dash was still hard at body of work with Leibowitz , who ’s train all the bat dogs since Derby . ( Chase was evidently produce in free agency . )
Leibowitz started Dash ’s grooming when the whelp was about 3 months old , teaching him canonic cues of sit , persist , come , list .
Then comes the literal bat retrieval . They bulge out belittled and not even with a bat . First Dash had to fetch a nut , then it was a small opus of burlap , rolled up to look like a small log . Then it ’s time for a baby bat , no more than 1 foot long , and its bbl is wrapped in burlap .
The burlap plays an important role . Dogs sometimes have a tendency to crunch on wood , so the burlap helps teach Dash to employ a " calm grip , " Leibowitz says . The breeding then moves to heavy and heavier at-bat , and eventually Dash will pick up bats without the gunny .
He ’s being taught to grab the bat by the fat end , avoiding the pine gob and any grips employ to the bat .
" Obviously , none of the players would like their chiropteran to be gnawed on , " Leibowitz says .
Socializationis an authoritative part of the training , too , so Leibowitz tries to expose the dogs to a variety of hoi polloi and configurations , include a baseball subject field . After all , Dash is die to be bear to run out in front of several thousand the great unwashed — not to mention the 12 or so players and umpires on the field — with flashy music or an announcer ’s voice playing over the loudspeaker .
" You have to be a very extra dog to accomplish what they ’re achieving , " Leibowitz says .
