GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) One of the Labrador retrievers that fetches baseballs and bats for the minor-league Greensboro Grasshoppers is kicking her paws up and retiring after this season.
In one of those only-in-the-minors stories, team president Donald Moore said Tuesday the dog - named Miss Babe Ruth - ''deserves to slow down'' after nearly a decade of bringing balls to umpires and retrieving the Grasshoppers' bats.
She will turn 10 this fall and made her debut as a 9-month-old puppy in August 2006. There is a statue of the dog outside the team's ballpark.
The team has two other dogs - Master Yogi Berra and Miss Lou Lou Gehrig - that will continue the team's canine bat-fetching tradition.
The Grasshoppers are one of the Miami Marlins' Single-A farm teams.
