People | Stay? Roll over? No Time for Tricks for this 'Bat Dog' By Michael Vitez, Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist, July 20, 2003 Chase That Golden Thunder, to use his formal name, arrives at the ballpark of the Trenton Thunder every morning with Rick Brenner, his master and general manager of the ball club. Rick has plenty to do during the day — like run a business — but Chase, a 70-pound golden retriever, is content to nap on Rick's office floor or trot around the executive offices all day with a bone-shaped cushion in his mouth.      Chase, the only “bat dog” in America owned by a baseball team, doesn't go to work until game time, 7 p.m. In the meantime, the Thunder staff and team fawn over him — brushing his long auburn hair, scratching him, or taking him for walks along the riverfront. Even a celebrity dog has needs.      Thunder coach Stump Merrill, onetime manager of the New York Yankees, is a gruff, tobacco-spitting man who has spent his life in baseball. On the bulletin board in his office he has one photograph of his newborn granddaughter — and two pictures of Chase. He also has doggie treats in his drawer. “Good thing about him,” barked Stump, “even when you're horse [manure], he's still your friend.”      The gift shop at Mercer County Waterfront Park, home of the Thunder, sells a Chase doll and Chase T-shirts, each $15. The team gives away actual paw prints, called “pawtographs,” and Chase has his own baseball card included with the team set. The gift shop does not yet sell Chase bobblehead dolls, though one front office staffer suggested a Chase model could have a wagging tail instead of a bobbing head.      On Thursday evening, as he does for home games, Chase goes to work about 6:30. In his office, Rick said to Chase, “You want to go see the boys and girls!” The dog leaped up and bounded out the door. He knew it was show time.      Man and dog walked down a hallway underneath the stadium that leads to the home-team dugout, stopping first by an exit door. Rick opened the door. “Hey,” he said, “go potty.” Chase trotted down toward the Delaware River, found a light pole, and relieved himself of all pregame nervousness. So far this season, Chase has made no errors on the field. Once through the tunnel, and on the field, Chase just plopped down — regal, like a lion — on the fresh-cut grass near the Thunder dugout. Children ran out to pet him, and his tail wagged like a windshield wiper. Chase stood for the national anthem.      After the visiting Harrisburg team batted in the top half of the first inning, Rick sat in a folding chair in front of the Thunder dugout, with Chase seated at his feet. After the first Trenton batter grounded out, dropping his bat at home plate, Rick said: “Go get it!” Chase bounded off. He circled around the bat, grabbed it right on the label, readjusted his grip a few times to get it right, and pranced back in full glory to Rick, who handed it to the regular bat boy. Chase never leaves tooth marks.      The second Trenton batter struck out and carried his own bat back to the dugout, disappointing fans and dog alike. Chase gleefully pounced on a wild pitch that rolled to the fence behind home plate and returned the ball to Rick, who gave it to a boy in the stands.      Dot Cellini, 64, of Falls Township, Bucks County, a season-ticket holder for nine years, sits right by the Thunder dugout. “I absolutely love Chase,” she said. “I particularly enjoy him because he has a quality I think we lack in society today. He enters his work with total joy.” The third batter of the inning flied out, and Chase retrieved his last bat of the night.     Chase works only one inning as bat dog because, well, he's a dog. Rick had a plastic swimming pool custom built beneath the stadium, and on hot nights, Chase takes a dip on his way back to Rick's air-conditioned office. There he naps until the fourth inning.      Chase, now 3, was raised and trained by Jeff Marchal of Lima, Ohio, who roams America with Chase's older brother, Jake the Diamond Dog, doing a similar act at scores of minor-league parks. After owners of the Thunder hosted Jake, they wanted a dog of their own. Marchal nurtured Chase for two years before selling him to Trenton last fall. Chase worked seven games last year, but this is truly his rookie season.     Before parting with Chase, Marchal inspected Rick's home, even Rick's mother's home, and interrogated Rick to make sure he was a dog lover. Marchal did not grill Rick's fiancée, Wendy Cornell, but she has accepted that Chase will sleep with them. “There's room for the three of us,” she said. And speaking of romance, Marchal just this week returned from Louisiana with a 4-month-old Southern belle for Chase, a golden retriever named Gracie. “She's got great hips,” he said in a telephone interview. He hopes to breed and train a dozen bat dogs.      In the middle of the fourth inning, Chase returned to right field to chase down — poetically, with only one drop — six Frisbees hurled by Rick. In the sixth inning, Chase made a final appearance to carry bottled water in a basket to umpires gathered at second base. Then it was back to Rick's office, where he often curls up underneath the desk, to wait for the game to end.