Myrtle Beach Pelicans mascot defines workplace spirit

Look for this guy to greet you in the Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ front office by walking up and dropping a baseball out of his mouth, with his tail wagging.

Deuce fills four big shoes on the Carolina League’s roster of team mascots. The Pelicans’ four-legged ambassador, a 7-year-old, English yellow Labrador retriever, remains the lone canine mascot of all eight teams of the league, which also stretches north into Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. The season opens for Myrtle Beach Thursday against the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks.

Sporting a collar that looks like the cover and stitching of a baseball last Friday, Deuce could not say no to some fetch on the ball field with his guardian by day in the office, Beth Freitas, the team’s administrative assistant, based at the front desk. From the visiting team dugout, he walked onto the grass like it was his own backyard.

Throw a tennis ball past second base, and Deuce will bring it back and make his own pitch, by plopping the ball down for another go-around.

Before the start of this decade, Deuce succeeded Dinger as the second representative in the Pelicans’ “Home Run Dog” family. Freitas said his life in game season includes spending days in the team offices and, during games, running out baskets of new baseballs for league home-plate umpires twice, meeting and greeting fans in the team pro shop and taking postgame victory laps around the bases.

“Unlike the Pelicans’ full-time staff,” Freitas said, “Deuce gets to relax in the off-season. He starts in March and is done in September.”

The length of office days, especially on those with games, does not wrinkle anything in Deuce’s routine, for he shares the same 9-to-5 clock with office colleagues during baseball season and stays on hand until the end of each game, maybe with a snooze or two to get him through.

“You will be sitting at your desk, and Deuce will bring a tennis ball and drop it at your feet,” Freitas said. “He wants you to throw the ball. Deuce will continually pick up the ball and drop it at your feet until you play fetch with him. Deuce does enjoy his naps during the day.”

Deuce doesn’t get lonely

Deuce won’t be lonely for a four-legged buddy in the halls, either, for this team has gone to the dogs, as outlined by Freitas. He hangs out with Marley, whom Andy Milovich, the Pelicans’ president and general manager, adopted at one of the “Bark at the Park” promotions; Gus, who lives with Shannon Samanka, the team’s box office manager; Maggie, playing on the field outside of games, with owner Corey Russell, the sports turf (grounds) manager; Petey, another “Bark in the Park” night rescue, adopted by Kyle Guertin, the in-game entertainment and video production manager; and Harley, Freitas’ own pooch with whom she said he enjoys “sleepovers every now and then.”

Freitas pulled out the big, blue, rectangular bed from under her desk to show Deuce’s own place to crash during the day. He does not rest with a certain ball, toy or doll.

“When Deuce is on his bed,” Freitas said, “he is there to sleep, although you will see him run in his sleep.”

Freitas also enumerated some other special traits about Deuce, who takes pride in looking after himself.

“Deuce will pick up his bowl and put it in the sink when he has finished eating,” she said. “He will help pick up toys.”

If he drinks his water bowl dry, maybe after a workout from fetch, he will pick it up and bring it to you, Freitas said.

The same goes if someone drops a set of keys.

“Deuce will pick them up and hand them to you,” Freitas said.

On command, he also likes to bow, chase his tail, speak, shake paw to hand, and do high-fives, which “everyone loves,” she said.

Asked what has made Deuce’s business-day buddy time with her thrive, Freitas was candid.

“Mrs. Beth is known for her treats,” she said.

He takes being the celebrity there in stride, too, walking around the corridors with tail wagging and his wanting “everyone to be happy,” Frietas said. Maybe that’s why everybody walking in the office asks first thing, “Where is Deuce?”

Deuce would probably want to remind everyone with dogs at home to circle two special promotions on the calendar, May 19 and Aug. 26, among the Pelicans’ 70 games at home. Those are “Bark in the Park” nights, when dogs receive free admission with their owners who buy tickets for the bleachers, in left field. The first date also includes a pregame “Top Dog Competition” with tricks, on a night falling long before the “dog days” of summer arrive.

This story was originally published April 2, 2015 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach Pelicans mascot defines workplace spirit."