Celebrate Rookie's Retirement on Wednesday, June 24th with a pregame ceremony.
After a historic career as the Thunder Bat Dog and goodwill ambassador Rookie is retiring from his Bat Dog duties.
Rookie and his twin sister, Mickie, were born in December 2013 to their mom Reba and dad Derby. After training with renowned dog trainer Shelly Leibowitz at the Greenleaf Pet Resort, Rookie made his on-field debut to the Thunder fans on Opening Night of 2014.
In April 2015, Rookie went out to retrieve his first bat while ESPN was filming it for their E-60 special “The Family Business”. Everyone who saw the show had a big laugh, as Rookie ran out to the outfield instead of retrieving the bat.
He soon became a great Bat Dog and shared the duties with Derby.
After Derby’s passing in 2018, Rookie then took over the bat dog duties and was a superstar.
Rookie has retrieved bats for the Thunder in Trenton and in Bowie Maryland, during the 2019 Eastern League Championship game. He has also worked in other parks, including Buffalo, Lehigh Valley, Scranton, and Staten Island. He also followed in the paw steps of his grandad Chase by appearing at Yankee Stadium in 2019.
Rookie has been a fan favorite in every city he has visited.
Besides ESPN, he has also appeared on MLB Network, NHL Network, MSNBC, ABC and NBC. He has also been a special guest at The AKC Museum of the Dog, the Philadelphia Fan Expo, and he dropped the puck at Princeton vs Harvard Hockey Game.
His nationwide popularity grew as he became a star on social media with over 14,000 followers on Instagram and Twitter (X). Even though he won’t be retrieving bats anymore Rookie will still be appearing at every Thunder home game this season, meeting fans along with Dash. Please stop by and say hi.
