Man Coaching Rookie Bat Retrieving Labrador Through Baseball Game Is So Wholesome
As far as my dog's career aspirations go, I'm fairly certain she doesn't have any. Her special skills include begging for table food, taking record breaking amounts of naps each day, and being kind to cats — all very valuable and appreciated talents, but nothing she could really put to use in a workplace environment. Still, there are plenty of dogs out there who do work, like police dogs, livestock guardian dogs, service dogs... and bat dogs, apparently.
At least, there are where this Minor League Baseball team is concerned. They're carrying on their tradition of bat retrieving dogs, and the newest is still learning her job duties, as we can see in this Instagram video.
Earlier this week, the Greensboro Grasshoppers shared this sweet footage of their rookie bat dog, a black Labrador who is, appropriately enough, named Willie Mae Mays, hard at work with the human who's teaching her the ins and the outs of her gig.
Since he was mic-ed up while on the field with Willie Mae at her sixth game, in this video, we get to hear the adorable way he coached her through the experience while also teaching her how to stay calm (and sharing stories about the dogs who came before her).
The human in question sits with the bat dog behind a plexiglass screen (safety first) until it's time for her to run out and grab the bat, which she did flawlessly. She was born for this!
While they were hanging out during the game, he even shared a story about Jackie, who is Willie Mae's sister and had to be named the office manager instead because she had zero interest in fetching bats or balls. Ha!
Willie Mae is still new at this, but something tells me she'll catch on (and look adorable doing it, of course).
The Greensboro Grasshoppers' Bat Dogs
According to Spectrum News 1, Willie Mae is the latest addition in a long line of bat dogs who have come before her, who include Miss Babe Ruth, Master Yogi Berra and Miss Lou Lou Gehrig (yes, all of their names are perfect, no notes).
The team took a break from the tradition during the height of the COVID pandemic, but in 2022, general manager Donald Moore told the outlet they were glad to bring it back.
“There’s been a team or two out there in America over the years that had a dog, but I don’t know if any of them have had dogs that do as much as our dogs do," he said. "It’s family entertainment. A lot of families have dogs and it seemed like it’d be a good marriage, and people love it."
Of course — because why wouldn't people love to see a bat dog at a baseball game? More teams need to adopt this tradition, but in the meantime, it looks like Willie Mae is killing it!