[exciting music] - [Announcer] Everybody, give it up for Ripken!

[crowd cheering] [upbeat music] - The first year we brought Ripken out, people loved him, but I could still get in and out of the stadium pretty easily.

Now, I have to plan my trips accordingly.

- We have people lined up to get their pictures taken with him.

He's got his own shirts.

People are asking for his autograph.

I'm like, you know, that's my husband's autograph, right?

I mean, I feel like I am going somewhere with a famous professional athlete who is my dog.

- Seeing the smiles on people's faces, the joy that we bring, it really makes my job worth it.

What we do worth it.

I mean, he's our pet, but we never thought our pet would be the superstar that he is.

Ripken come.

Heel, heel.

Sit.

Champ, sit.

Ripken, back.

Come.

Good boy, heel.

Sit, sit, good.

Good boys, good boys, good boys.

This is an area where I like to bring Ripken and Champ to train pretty frequently throughout the week.

Ripken, back.

Sit, down.

Down, good boy.

Training is definitely a commitment and a lifelong thing.

Everybody asks me how long did it take you to train Ripken to fetch tees and get bats?

My response to them is, I don't know.

We come across something new every day, whether it's the UPS guy ringing the doorbell, or it's going out to Lowe's and walking through the store and seeing a forklift for the first time.

For me, it's important to let my dogs experience those things so that there's no fear when we get out there on the field.

My whole life, I was an athlete.

When I got to college, playing at the Division One level, I decided to stop playing baseball after my freshman year, which was a very difficult decision because I thought I was gonna be playing for the Durham Bulls.

I was gonna be playing under the lights in Camden Yards Stadium.

It was just always a passion to get back into baseball somehow.

I have a good friend out in Boise, Idaho.

I knew he had a dog named Cowboy Cole that did retrieval work for Boise State University and I gave him a call and said, "Hey, I want to get my dog into fetching baseball bats."

And he said, "Oh, I have the dog for you."

He flew me out, Ripken, picked him up at the airport here in Raleigh and it was the greatest thing ever.

I mean, he was just a very special pup.

I knew that from the very beginning and we started day one at eight weeks just playing fetch with little bats and as he started getting older, started adding the obedience, getting the bats and going over things straight and working around distractions.

I mean, I'd put on all my old catchers gear and would make sure he wasn't scared of me when I was wearing it.

- Michael knew from day one that this was what he wanted to do with Ripken, but it was just a matter of getting him out there, so we ended up pitching the idea to the Holly Spring Salamanders and that's what really ended up just taking off.

- A fun story her at five.

This guy right here is Ripken, the bat dog.

He's an unofficial team member of the Holly Spring Salamanders.

- [Melissa] We got a live story in the five o'clock evening news.

- He is famous here.

- Ripken's GoPro videos Michael started doing.

They ended up going viral and they were being shared like crazy.

- I had to turn my phone off because it was ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, and my wife and I couldn't sleep.

- We took that to the team over at the Durham Bulls and said, "We have this dog and he can retrieve baseball bats.

He was really good at it.

Would you give him a shot?"

They were a little hesitant and so I said, "There's another dog within [indistinct] franchise that fetches bats for the Las Vegas Aviators and he was a hit out there.

Call their general manager and see what they say about Finn."

That day they called us and they said, "Okay, we're good.

Ripken can come."

- [Michael] The first bat he got, the entire stadium went absolutely crazy for him.

- Do you worry people will say that you're just letting the game go to the dogs?

- [laughing] No.

[jazzy upbeat music] - I don't know who has more fun out there at the games, me or Ripken.

You're welcome, thank you.

No cotton candy.

The players will laugh at us because you recognize the player out on the field 'cause they're in uniform, they got their names on the back, but once they leave, a lot of people don't realize it's the players walking by 'em.

And I'm sitting there with a crowd of people signing autographs for Ripken, taking pictures, and the players kind of laugh and smirk like, "Hey, thanks for keeping the crowd at bay," as they walk past.

- Just a couple more then he's gotta go.

- Hop on it quick, yep.

- He's our favorite part of the game.

- Awesome, Rip, sit.

Durham Bulls have been a huge part of my life and my relationship with Melissa.

Our first date was a Durham Bulls game, and so I only thought it was fitting we get back there to propose.

- [Melissa] Michael proposed to me on the dugout with Wool E. Bull.

They pulled me up on top of the dugout.

- I got down on one knee and the whole stadium went crazy 'cause thank God she said yes.

So the Bulls have been a vital part of our relationship from start to now.

I'm not gonna say finished because there's nothing finished yet.

We still got a long ways to go with them.

- [Melissa] That August and September with the Durham Bulls, he was only doing Friday and Saturday home games, but that's what actually led us to NC State that season.

- So we are on the way to the NC State versus UNC football game.

Ripken hopefully will get lots of tee retrievals today, so he's in the back getting some rest before we head to the stadium.

[motor humming] The atmosphere between the two stadiums is 1000% different.

Ripken feeds off of his environment really, really well.

At baseball he's super quiet and chill and he understands what his role is there.

At NC State, there's 60,000 people.

There's fireworks going off and cannons.

He's a totally different dog.

- [Melissa] I honestly had never heard Ripken bark until the first NC State football game.

- [Michael] He's so amped up.

When he hears the fireworks go off, he starts barking 'cause he knows it's his time to shine and it's his turn to get to go out on the field.

[upbeat music] [fans cheering] - [Michelle] Being out there and just seeing everyone just smiling and screaming and cheering, that's what it's all about.

We stay late, we get there early just to interact with the fans, just so people can see Ripken and take those pictures and get those autographs because we want to do that.

- [Michael] It can be tiring because it's late nights, but it's all worth it when we get to get out there and see the smiles that we put on people's faces, the comments they leave on our Instagrams and Tiktoks and Twitters.

Just the support that they show us has been huge and I can't thank them enough for all that.

- Oh, yeah.

Thanks, man.

- Thanks, man.

[upbeat music] - Mark.

Ready.

Back.

The tough thing for me is thinking about the future with Ripken.

He absolutely loves being in front of the fans and that's gonna be I think maybe just as tough for him as it is for me the day we do have to retire him.

We do have a new pup in the lineup, Champ.

My buddy called me and said, "I've got the last litter if you want a puppy."

And I didn't let him finish his sentence.

I said, "Yes, I do."

And Champ's phenomenal.

He's got the same little personality, maybe a little more personality than Ripken.

He pushes me a little bit harder.

Come, nope, Champ, come.

Champ, leave it.

Good boy.

We will start to rotate Champ in, and honestly you won't be able to tell the difference between the two.

They look like identical twins.

Everybody asked, "On the field, are you gonna just call him Ripken" I said, "No, that's not fair to Ripken."

Ripken did his job and he built his legacy.

Eventually it's gonna be Champ's turn, but it's not coming anytime soon.

Obviously every athlete wants to be at the pro level and that's I think my goal and Ripken's goal as well.

Seeing a Ripken statue in in the Hall of Fame one day would be an ultimate goal of mine.

I think life would almost be complete at that point.

[chuckling] [upbeat music continues]