13 year old golden retriever is

retiring from her job as a bat

dog.

We are talking about Layla.

She’s been the bat dog for the

Clearwater Threshers baseball

team down in Florida for the

past six years. She rushes out

to home plate after their team’s

hitters pick up the discarded

bats to take back to the dugout.

It’s quite a thing. Here’s ABC’s

Danny new 20 for the final time

this past week, the Clearwater

Threshers nationally beloved bat

dog Layla retrieved the lumber.

And was that emotional?

Uh, yeah, it was emotional. I

think we were more, uh, overcome

with with happiness for the past

six seasons.

Andrew here had been bringing

his now 13 year old best pal to

help out this Philadelphia

Phillies minor league team.

The fans love her. The team

loves her. She’s uh.

She’s as part of our staff as

any anyone else’s.

But this is how the Threshers

first found out about Layla back

in 2018, when she went viral

online for fetching Andrew a

cold one from the fridge. We

could all use a Layla.

She was always bringing me

tools or bringing me different

things.

Over the past six seasons,

Layla has become a celebrity

around Western Florida. Andrew

says he gets frequently stopped

on the beach for pictures, and

one time top Phillies prospect

Justin Crawford actually got

booed by the crowd for

unknowingly picking up his bat.

Sorry, her bat Layla takes it

from him and starts coming back

to the day off, and the crowd

erupts. And even though Layla

may now be done volunteering on

the diamond, the torch slash bat

will actually soon be passed to

her adoptive sister Lucy. Andrew

is currently trading her for

next season.

Layla’s little sister, um,

wants to do everything that

Layla does. Thinks Layla is the

coolest dog in the world, so

we’re happy to continue on to do

it with Lucy.

()

And I want to make sure we

take some time for my favorite

thing about Layla that hopefully

Lucy will do too. Apparently

whenever she would go for the

first bat of the game, Layla

would just, as you can see, roll

around in the grass first.

The bat can come later. She

needs to make her presence known

first. Layla I love you so much

it hurts. You are the best.

Congrats on an amazing career in

New York!