Nationals' bat-retrieving dog Bruce laps up pregame attention, makes MLB debut
The dog days of summer arrived Saturday at Nationals Park.
Bruce, a 21-month-old Golden Retriever, fetched a bat during a ceremony before the Washington Nationals' game against the Miami Marlins as part of a Pups in the Park promotion. He retrieved bats the last two seasons with the Rochester Red Wings, Washington's Triple-A affiliate.
Bruce, wearing a bandana with an ' MLB debut' patch he received when he arrived at the stadium, was presented a commemorative bat. He then took a circuitous route from the dugout toward first base after Nationals reliever Zach Brzykcy dropped the bat in foul territory before the bat dog collected his quarry to the delight of a crowd wowed by his work and enthusiasm.
'Look at this dog and try not to smile,' said Josh Snyder, Bruce's owner. 'He's great. He's goofy. I think he's the perfect candidate for Rochester, the Red Wings and now the Nationals.'
Snyder, who wore a No. 25 Nationals jersey with 'Bruce' on the nameplate, said he drove through the night with Bruce and arrived in Washington around 3 a.m. Saturday. But it was anything but a rough morning and early afternoon for Bruce, who casually lapped up attention as he walked through the tunnel in the stadium.
Bruce spent about 50 minutes on the field before the ceremony, where he was hounded by well-wishers. He also did a couple practice bat retrievals with Snyder's assistance before Nationals catcher Riley Adams stopped to pet him on his way out for pregame work.
He won't work during the actual game, however, and will return to Triple-A duties afterward.
Bruce is Snyder's second dog work to with the Red Wings, following the late Milo, and both participated in campaigns to raise money for Rochester's Veterans Outreach Center and Honor Flight of Rochester.
This week — which included an announcement from the Nationals on Tuesday that Bruce had worked his tail off to earn a promotion — generated plenty of buzz even before Saturday's debut.
'Social media, everything like that seems like it's seriously blown up, and we love it,' Snyder said. 'Really good publicity with our goal and our mission of bringing people together. It shows it's just doing that.'
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Reuters
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BBC News
an hour ago
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Heavy security and Messi on show as Club World Cup begins
Lionel Messi and a heavy security presence were on show as the revamped Club World Cup got under way in the United States on city side Inter Miami, led by Argentine legend Messi, played out an entertaining goalless again Egyptian giants Al Ahly to kick off the were thankful to goalkeeper and man of the match Oscar Ustari for making a string of saves, including one from the penalty spot, to preserve a clean came close to opening the scoring in the second period with a free-kick and almost won it late on with an incredible, long-range strike but saw his effort acrobatically tipped onto the crossbar by Mohamed el event, which has been much maligned in some parts, may have started without a goal but finally the talk can be about the football - or can it? Police presence felt in Miami Matchday was the first time since arriving in Miami earlier this week that it felt like a significant tournament was about to get under the South Beach area, travelling Al Ahly supporters were enjoying lunch and drinks before the big Egyptian side had qualified as winners of the African Champions League and have serious pedigree, winning more league championships (45) and more titles on the continent (12) than any other club, but they could not translate that on to the global the Route 95 highway towards the stadium, advertising boards were showcasing the fixture, declaring it's "showtime" in true American last major game to be played at the Hard Rock Stadium took place 11 months ago when "a party almost became a tragedy" as ticketless fans forced their way in to the ground for the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia, delaying kick-off by 80 learned a tough lesson and were taking no chances, making sure there was no repeat this time as police cars with flashing sirens lined the boulevards outside the that match and recent unrest in Los Angeles in mind, police officers with 'counter terrorism' logos patrolled the exterior of the venue and numerous security checks and bag searches were made before entry was needed extra time to make their way inside as they were forced to have further checks at a second perimeter remains to be seen whether the same approach will be taken in Sunday's fixtures, which take place in LA, Cincinnati, New York/New Jersey and Seattle. Fireworks, razzmatazz and almost some Messi magic Once through the extensive screening process, it was the first time supporters bearing 'Messi 10' shirts were spotted in the city - and the glaring pink and black shirts were out in their numbers."Messi, Messi, Messi" was the chant of choice from his adoring fans, just like it had been at Argentina's glorious run to winning the World Cup in Qatar three years former Barcelona forward sent an effort narrowly over and had another bending strike saved by El Shenawy, before curling a delightful free-kick into the side netting which many of the crowd thought had gone week leading up to the opening game featured apparent ticketing issues but Fifa president Gianni Infantino said he expected "a full stadium" with an "incredible atmosphere".He positioned himself in the stands at the centre of a front three, flanked by footballing icons Ronaldo of Brazil and Italian legend Roberto Infantino wanted and what he got were two different a glance around, thousands of empty green seats were clearly evident in the 65,326-capacity stadium and a crowd of 60,927 was announced in the second the presence of Messi, the sizeable travelling Egyptian contingent - who chanted and waved flags throughout - and an action-packed game made for a watchable with all American sporting events, it began with a rendition of the national anthem, with the singer accompanied by a large stars-and-stripes from the local Miami Dade College then carried out large badges of the 32 competing clubs before place them on to each letter of a vast 'Fifa' sign atop a podium in the centre of the pitch, leaving no doubt about whom this competition belonged rapper French Montana produced a hit in the pre-match build-up, there were fireworks aplenty and, to add further razzmatazz, each player was announced on to the pitch individually before their illustrious opponents, Miami had supposedly qualified through the back door, achieving the place after claiming the Supporters' Shield - coming top of the MLS in the regular season - before being beaten in the feel MLS Cup winners LA Galaxy would have been a better choice on merit, but that would have meant a Club World Cup without Miami and their main man club's co-owner and newly knighted Sir David Beckham was given a rousing ovation from supporters as he entered the stadium and there were even louder cheers as Messi's smiling face flashed up on the big he came close, the little magician could not provide a moment of inspiration for the expectant crowd in failed to win potentially their easiest group game and come up against Portuguese side Porto on Thursday."Clearly, when we find Leo in positions and get the ball to him in the best way, that's where we have the most options," said Miama manager Javier Mascherano."We take it game by game. We know that the level will clearly rise in the next game because they're a European opponent, but we have to stay with the feeling that it's 11 against 11."Anything can happen in football." Veteran Ustari takes plaudits The lengthy pre-match activity meant the match began six minutes later than the scheduled 8pm local kick-off Ahly should have been 2-0 up in the opening eight minutes, but goalkeeper Oscar Ustari stood big to keep out efforts from Wessam Abou Ali and Emam Argentina international Ustari was being kept busy, tipping Abou Ali's free-kick over the bar and making a sharp instinctive save to deny Achraf Dari's towering best of the lot came two minutes before half-time as the inspired Ustari dived the right way to keep out Mahmoud Trezeguet's penalty after the ex-Aston Villa player was bundled over in the box by Maximiliano half-time some entertainment was added to proceedings for the crowd as YouTuber iShowSpeed, who seems to be everywhere, Sergio Aguero, Pepe, Kaka, Alessandro del Piero and Youri Djorkaeff took part in a crossbar team could find a breakthrough in the second period, with Messi coming inches away, but it was 38-year-old former Sunderland man Ustari who took the plaudits."It was a great performance," he told DAZN. 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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Empty seats, exhausted players, excess heat – the tournament that could embarrass Fifa
Judging by the stadium availability maps that present themselves on Fifa's official ticketing website for its Club World Cup, there may be many stadiums over the next few weeks in the United States where the crowds are massed in the stand that faces the cameras. Glance at the ticketing arrangements for some of the more problematic games for ticket sales, a pattern emerges. For Tuesday's collision of South Korea's Ulsan HD and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, only tickets on two sides of the Inter&Co stadium in Orlando are available. Of the two greyed-out stands only the area immediately behind one of the goals is available for sale and the cheapest tickets are just $11 (£8). It may well be the same for Mexico's Liga-MX Pachuca against Red Bull Salzburg in Cincinnati on Wednesday, although the pattern is harder to read in that respect. There seem to be large parts of the vast MetLife Stadium in New Jersey that have also been retired for Thursday's game between Palmeiras of Brazil and the Egyptian club Al-Ahly, although time will tell. There were still tickets available for the opening game between Al-Ahly and Inter Miami at the latter's Hard Rock Stadium in the hours before kick-off. Just a few hours left until the FIFA Club World Cup kicks off, and less than half the tickets are sold for the opening match. FIFA partnered with Miami Dade College after poor ticket sales. Every student who buys 1 ticket for $1 gets 4 extra tickets to help pack the stadium. — Cricket Business HQ (@cric_businessHQ) June 14, 2025 Of course, closing parts of a stadium to save on stewarding and concessions – and then pointing the cameras away – is an old trick that many sports deploy when ticket sales fail to meet expectations. Fifa's dynamic pricing model – a euphemism for wringing the most out of the paying fan – means that the price in some cases is starting to shift. There have been suggestions that Fifa has been obliged to refund part of the cost paid by some supporters who bought their tickets early, only for the price to fall dramatically. As of Saturday one could watch Bayern Munich play the amateur side Auckland City, from New Zealand, on Sunday for as little as $52 (£38) in Cincinnati. But if Bayern reach the final at the MetLife on July 13, the cheapest available ticket is currently $657.71 (£484.86) as a resale on the official site. The size of the crowds has the potential to be an embarrassment for Fifa in the early rounds of the competition at least. There are many ways, when it comes to the television coverage, that a skilful match director can conceal the swathes of empty seats but nothing that anyone can do to stop those attending the game posting pictures of empty seats on social media. The Fifa president Gianni Infantino insisted that his Club World Cup project was played in the bigger stadiums rather than those smaller stadiums in the next tier, many of which were MLS only. Fifa is not saying much when it comes to ticketing other than that its biggest ticket sales have been in the US, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Canada. The sales of tickets in Britain is only 11th on the list behind France, Japan, Germany, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. At a Fifa event last week, Infantino said he expected 'a full stadium' for the opening game between Miami and Al-Ahly, and doubtless efforts were made with discounts and other offers. It is a reminder that this is a tournament that has not been driven in any way by match-going fan demand. Instead the match-going fans have been retro-fitted around it. The tournament itself, as has been well trailed, is a political play by Infantino to make an incursion into the lucrative broadcast rights for the elite club game – by which one means Uefa and the Champions League primarily. The location and the suitability or otherwise for a global, international tournament has been largely incidental. It ended up in the US because of the proximity of next summer's Fifa men's World Cup but it was originally intended in 2021 for China. There may well be big attendances at some of the games, and perhaps the latter stages might even attract the kind of sell-out crowds of big venues like the MetLife of which Infantino has dreamed. But that is not why the tournament was conceived. There was no groundswell of opinion that the fans wanted a 32-team summer tournament that would settle the argument once and for all as to whether Mamelodi Sundowns were a better side than Ulsan HD, or indeed that there must be a world champion. At least not a world champion that took four weeks and 63 games to decide. There was none of the fascination that existed, for example, in the post-war years with the relative merits of one style of European club football over another, which led to the establishment of the European Cup. This was entirely confected to demonstrate that Fifa and its president could create a tournament that might rival the Champions League. One so totally out of kilter with the rhythm of club football that it needed someone to tell Fifa that players' contracts could conceivably expire midway through it unless they changed the rules. It has been an extraordinary demonstration of the power of a Fifa president – who has pushed it through regardless of legal challenge and widespread opposition. Ideally for Infantino most of the big European teams stay in it to the end as well as a selection of the South Americans. It may suit the streamer DAZN and all its sub-licensees if the European teams dominate but, for Infantino, it will look like an unnecessary re-run of the Champions League. The best chance that challengers from South America and elsewhere might have is the indifference of some of those European-based players after a long, hard season and the punishing temperatures of the eastern US in summer. Bad for the players, but good for business. That said, the shortest-priced non-European with the bookmakers is Brazilian club Flamengo at around 33-1, placed behind nine European clubs in terms of the favourites. Either way, come July 13, one would get very long odds on Infantino declaring it anything other than a huge triumph. It does not matter how many seats are empty, how tired some of the players look or whether the wealthiest European clubs dominate the final stages – or whether some flop in the US heat. Infantino has got his tournament and all else will be secondary to that.
