King of the Hill Dog Names

When it comes to heartwarming stories and dog-based puns, few are as great as the story of Hank T. Dog. Every spring, the Milwaukee Brewers head out west to begin preparing for the Major League season at their spring training facility just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. But what started as a normal year in 2014 became anything but, the moment a small, scraggly Bichon Frise mix wandered onto the practice field. 

Security guards were the first to spot him, but one of the team’s coaches, Ed Sedar, decided to bring him into the clubhouse to check him out. The scraggly stray had no tags and there was no sign of any owner looking for him nearby, so team employees decided to take him to a local vet to get him checked out. He showed a tail injury and some grey markings on one of his legs, indicating he was likely hit by a vehicle, and also sported a pair of chipped teeth. The vet then treated him for a laceration and gave him back to team employees to continue the healing process. 

After repeated attempts to locate the dog’s owner, they decided to keep him around for spring training in case the owners attempted to find him. They named him Hank, after Hank Aaron, the former player who had started his career in Milwaukee and stood second on the list of career home runs (755). After a week of camp with no owner coming forward, the Brewers assigned him No. 1 and made him an official team member with a doggy jersey and all. After being around the park for a while, both players and staff began to fall in love with him. He would shag ground balls, run the bases, and even participated in a Spring Training sausage race, a 7th-inning Milwaukee staple, by wearing a hot dog costume. 

Throughout spring, staff members took turns housing the fuzzy little pooch, sharing both responsibility for him and his company. By the time he had been around a couple weeks, he was an Internet sensation, sprawling across all forms of social media as one of the most heartwarming stories of spring baseball. When no owners could be found upon Spring Training’s conclusion, the team decided to bring him back to Milwaukee, where he was greeted by both the mayor and county executive. 

Back at the park, the team had built him his own dog house for the sake of public appearances, but the shy dog only made a few outside of being walked onto the field for Opening Day. He was officially given the number “K9” and sold over a thousand shirts on the first day, a perfect number to match the number of requests the team received from fans to adopt the dog. He was soon after adopted by Marti Wronski, at the time the team’s vice president and general counsel. Although his continued appearances dwindled as the year went on and into the following because the life of a celebrity is undoubtedly draining for a dog, he was still honored with two fan giveaway bobbleheads and even helped generate money for the Wisconsin Humane Society on several occasions. Proceeds from Hank-related sales in the team store still go to the WHS as well. He now lives with his family in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, enjoying walks and being a normal dog.