Ripken the Bat Dog's big weekend

• He got his start as the bat dog for the Holly Springs Salamanders, but he's been working his way onto the fields of bigger and bigger stadiums ever since, thriving when he's surrounded by tens of thousands of screaming fans.

Driving the news: Last weekend, Ripken fetched kickers' tees during the N.C. State-Tennessee game at the Duke's Mayo Classic in Charlotte, his biggest performance yet.

• Friday night, he'll fetch his last bat of the season for the Bulls, and Saturday, he'll retrieve tees during N.C. State's home football game against Louisiana Tech.

Zoom out: Baseball games have always been a family affair for Ripken's family.

• His human dad, Michael O'Donnell, grew up a Baltimore Orioles fan. O'Donnell and his now-wife, Melissa, went to a Bulls game for their first date. He proposed to Melissa at a Bulls game, too. When they found out they were pregnant with their daughter, they announced it at — you guessed it — a Bulls game.
• If he could have gotten married on the field, he would have, O'Donnell told me.
• O'Donnell quit his corporate job to start a dog training business about a decade ago. When his daughter was just 10 months old, they got a puppy from a breeder friend in Idaho. They named him Ripken, after Cal Ripken Jr., the Hall of Fame shortstop who played 21 years with the Orioles.
• O'Donnell knew from the start that he wanted to train him to retrieve baseball bats.

Behind the scenes: The pup's schedule is packed.

• "It's crazy," Melissa said. "On top of having two kids under the age of eight, and you know, friends and family wanting to come visit to see Ripken, and then we have N.C. State Games, and Durham Bulls games, and appearances."
• Between now and January, they hardly have time to breathe, Melissa said.

• Part of the reason they stay so busy, O'Donnell said, is because taking Ripken to games is an all-day affair. They don't just pop in for a few retrievals and head home. They arrive hours before a game starts. When he's done retrieving bats at Bulls games, they head up to the stands for an inning and a half, signing autographs and taking pictures.
• "Ripken is more like that Cal Ripken, where he wants to sit in the stadium and sign everybody's autograph and say hi and thank you for coming," O'Donnell said. "He's everyone's pet now, not just our pet."

What's next: Ripken has big dreams. He's made it to the Panthers' Stadium, and last year, to Orlando for the Pop-Tarts Bowl. He's never let anyone down — or, as one bat dog recently did, pooped on the field.

• O'Donnell is hoping Ripken can make it to the pros.
• Does the MLB have bat dogs?
• "We're trying to get there," O'Donnell said. "We're working it."