Pros vs. Joes No. 4: Dillon’s in a pickle, but he’ll get it together

Dillon the Pickle is on “Pickle Probation” on Twitter, but the club still lets him ride his bike to work (courtesy Portland Pickles)

If there is a sports team mascot from the state that has grabbed the headlines this winter, it’s not been Benny Beaver, Blaze or the “Oregon Duck.”

Dillon The Pickle, set to begin his seventh season as mascot for the Portland Pickles of the West Coast Baseball League, has found the media spotlight a couple of times in recent months.

(For those who don’t know, the WCL is a summer wood-bat college league featuring 10 teams in Oregon and Washington. The Corvallis Knights, the five-time defending league champions, have won it eight times since the WCL’s inception in 2005 and have reached the finals 12 times in 16 years. The Pickles finished last season at 11-13 and in last place in the South Division. The 2022 season begins on May 31.)

In January, Dillon created a “scan-dill” of sorts with a tweet on the Pickles’ Twitter feed (@picklesbaseball) — “new phone who dis” along with a suggestive photo that showed the mascot sitting down, appearing to expose his green genitalia.

new phone who dis pic.twitter.com/57JBM6oQbL

— Portland Pickles (@picklesbaseball) January 12, 2022

That got plenty of reaction in Twitter-dom. The male grooming company “Manscaped” tweeted, “We’re hiring, Dillon.” When the Pickles tweeted, “This is making a bad situation worse,” Manscaped answered, “pretty nuts tbh.” Somebody else tweeted, “Portland Prickles.” Another: “I hope you see a raise on your next paycheck.”

On his late-night talk show, Stephen Colbert showed his audience the photo and quipped, “Let’s toss that pickle back in the barrel. That gherkin is not kosher.” 

Soon after Dillon’s tweet went out, the Pickles announced that Dillon “is in timeout,” and later tweeted, “It has come to our attention that this photo can be misinterpreted as a disturbing image. Dillon would like to go on record and say he was trying to give his fans a thumbs-up.”

In February, Dillon’s mascot costume was lost while team officials returned from a trip after making an appearance at an event in the Dominican Republic. Delta Airlines eventually found the large canvas duffel bag (with Dillon purportedly inside, the Pickles say) and dropped it off in Portland, but it was stolen by a porch pirate. Someone eventually found the missing outfit and dropped it off at Voodoo Doughnuts Too in Northeast Portland. The person, who asked to remain anonymous, said the costume had been left behind on a TriMet bus.

Dillon’s sudden celebrity put him on our radar to take part in the upcoming “Pros vs. Joes” Bracket Challenge. He will be among a group of notables to pick NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games as part of a special contest for subscribers to kerryeggers.com.

Here are the results of our question-and-answer session with Mr. Peucedanum Graveolens:

KE: It has been a rather eventful off-season for you, my friend.

DILLON: That is correct.

KE: What was the event you were appearing at in the Dominican Republic?

DILLON: I was there to watch the Caribbean series baseball tournament.

KE: Fill us in on the details of what happened to your costume.

DILLON: I was lost, not just my uniform. I was misplaced on my way back from the Dominican, and I was stolen from the front porch of my home.

KE: I see. You were kidnapped, then. Where were you taken?

DILLON: I was traveling around in my briefcase. Eventually my captor … I can’t speak to the details except to say that I was left on a TriMet bus, where I was found by a helpful citizen who decided to drop me off at Voodoo Doughnuts, a partner and sponsor of the Pickles. A (Voodoo Doughnuts rep) contacted the Pickles and got me home.

KE: Do you regret the photograph you tweeted out in February?

DILLON: I don’t regret the photograph. I feel sorry that everyone misinterpreted what was a friendly thumbs-up into something different.

KE: Were you just looking for more exposure?

DILLON: (Long laugh) I was trying to cheer up my fans with a thumbs-up.

KE: What did you mean when you tweeted “new phone who dis”?

DILLON: That was simply my way of introducing myself after our social media manager handed me the phone to take over our Twitter.

KE: Are you out of timeout? Are the Pickles allowing you on Twitter again?

Dillon will begin his seventh season as the mascot of the Portland Pickles when the WCL season begins May 31 (courtesy Portland Pickles)

DILLON: I’m still on indefinite Pickle probation. It’s tough to say I’ll get another shot, but if I do, I won’t squander it.

KE: How important is social media to your brand?

DILLON: Quite. I love to Tweet.

KE: How closely do you follow college basketball?

DILLON: I’m partial to baseball. I don’t know squat about basketball.

KE: How do you like your job?

DILLON: It gets more and more fun. I get more recognized in the community as the community gets to know me.

KE: What would you like the community to know about you?

DILLON: I love to have fun. I’ll always be their Pickle. I hope nothing I’ve done in the past will hurt them.

KE: And if it does? Well, that’s the way the pickle squirts.

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