TRENTON — Trenton Thunder fans and their pooches celebrated the dog days of summer tonight as Chase, the team's beloved bat dog since 2002, officially retired.

Despite a February cancer diagnosis and hot weather, Chase, 13 in human years and 91 in dog years, went out onto the field for the first time this season, though he wasn't able to fetch one last bat as was originally planned.



Click here for a slideshow of a look back at Chase through the years.

Many fans of the golden retriever turned out, and that was a delight for Eric Lipsman, Trenton Thunder senior vice president of corporate sales, with whom Chase lives.

“I’m actually happy and surprised, and when I saw so many people in line tonight I said, ‘You came out in the heat?’” Lipsman said. “And they said, ‘Yeah, we’re big fans of Chase!’ And that just meant the world to me.”

The first 2,000 fans older than14 got a Chase bobblehead, and fans were encouraged to bring their dogs to the field to help celebrate.

Five-year-old Derby, also a golden retriever, will take over for Chase.

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Chesterfield residents Steve and Stefanie Neuhof brought their golden retriever Duke to the game.

“We’re excited for Derby,” Steve Neuhof said.

Chase hasn’t fetched any bats for the Thunder this year because of his health, but he used to fetch bats in the first inning and let his son Derby take over in the second.

Tonight, one of Derby’s sons, Chief, came to the field wearing a “Happy birthday Grandpa” bandana.

Chief, who will be 2 in August, lives in Alexandria, Va., with his owners Lonnie Hassel and Dan Rosenblatt. Today was his second time at the ballpark, where Hassel and Rosenblatt’s daughter used to work.

“He’s very calm, he’s more like Chase. He doesn’t even bark,” Hassel said.

Some of the players in the Thunder’s dugout agreed that Chase is much calmer than the younger Derby.

“Chase gives you more attention. Derby just goes from person to person and runs all around,” pitcher Zach Nuding said.

Lipsman said that although Chase and Derby have different personalities, he doesn’t like to compare them.

“He’s just a one-of-a-kind dog. That’s all I can say. And that’s part of the problem is poor Derby is always going to go through life being compared to his father,” he said.

Chase was the first dog to fetch bats exclusively for a Minor League Baseball team. The team got the idea after bringing a traveling bat dog, Jake The Diamond Dog, to the ballpark a few times a year, Lipsman said.

“We thought our fans would love having a dog here 71 times a year,” he said.

Chase spent about a year and a half learning from Jake before joining the Thunder team full time.

In his 11 years with the team, he has been featured on local, national and international television. He became the first dog to go onto the field at Yankee Stadium, and was featured in the July issue of Yankee Magazine, Lipsman said.

Chase was diagnosed with a form of lymphoma — blood cancer — in February, and has been suffering from arthritis. He spent much of this week in the hospital, Lipsman said.

“He’s a brave dog and I just wanted him to be out there to hear those cheers,” he said.

Lipsman said Chase has missed being out on the field, and sits by the door when Derby gets the chance to fetch bats.

“He lived for this. He just absolutely loved to be out there on the field,” he said.

Contact Alyssa Mease at amease@njtimes.com or at (609) 989-5673.

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