Monkeys Riding Dogs Herding Goats Sweeping the Nation at Minor League Ballparks

by Mike Cole on Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 10:30PM

Sometimes minor league baseball promotions are just too awesome. And does anything say awesome like dogs riding monkeys as they herd goats?

No, didn’t think so.

That’s exactly what you have, though, in Team Ghost Riders. Tim Leopard, of Memphis, Tenn., runs the organization that goes around the country doing shows with monkeys strapped to border collies chasing goats around minor league outfields.

Well, Leopard and Team Ghost Riders don’t just limit their shows to minor league ballparks. The group’s website doesn’t have an updated schedule, but during the 2009-10 season, they frequented good times like the Angola Prison Rodeo in Louisiana and Juke Joint Festival in Clarksville, Miss.

Much like the ballplayers that take the field after Team Ghost Riders at minor league parks across the country, Leopard is just chasing a dream.

“In 1962, a little boy was born, and his dream, and his goal, was to own a monkey,” he says in a video on the Peoria Chiefs’ YouTube page. “This is my dream. It’s just like all these players on the field. It’s their dream to play baseball and their love.”

It’s poetic, isn’t it?

Without further ado, the video is below. At the very least it will take your mind off the Red Sox for nearly 10 glorious minutes. (Major hat tip to NBCSports.com’s Off the Bench blog who posted the video on Monday)