Bat Fetching Sports Dog Retires After 649 Consecutive Games

All dogs are good dogs. This is objective fact and I will not hear any arguments against it. But some dogs, like Miss Babe Ruth of Greensboro, N.C., are better dogs. Since she was a nine-month-old puppy, the black labrador retriever has worked for the Class A Greensboro Grasshoppers, living up to her breed’s namesake and doing some retrieving.

Starting on August 2, 2006, Babe has tirelessly retrieved both bats and balls for players and umpires. She has worked every home game since she started, even making a quick comeback from an auricular hematoma surgery late last season. Last night, she retired after 649 consecutive games.

In 2011, the Grasshoppers built Babe a life-size statue outside the ballpark to commemorate her service. Some hooligan stole it, but it was recovered two days later. Her brother Yogi Berra and niece Lou Lou Gehrig are also supporting sports dogs for the team. Yogi became the first dog to be ejected from a professional baseball game in 2009 when he took a shit on the field during a between-inning promotion.

The Grasshoppers threw her a retirement party last night, and our girl was the belle of the ball, looking resplendent in an orange dog tuxedo. The team wore custom jerseys, Miss Babe arrived in style in a red convertible, and she got the red carpet treatment as she presented her last game ball to the umpire. Babe’s favorite bat will be sent to Cooperstown to be enshrined in glory forever in the Hall of Fame, as it really should be, for she is an all-time great sports dog.

Photo via AP