The collegiate baseball Portland Pickles (part of the West Coast League) have made plenty of headlines before. One of those came in January when they set up a “Twitter takeover” from their mascot Dillon, then sent a tweet from him with a green pickle, and then deleted that tweet, saying “It’s come to our attention that this photo can be misinterpreted as a disturbing image.” That may or may not have been international, but the team is claiming that the next thing that’s brought them into the limelight is not intentional. As per Samantha Swindler of The Oregonian, the Pickles are saying that someone stole their mascot costume off their porch after Delta Airlines returned it to them:
Yes, Dillon T. Pickle, the mascot of the Portland Pickles baseball team, is missing – and the team management swears it’s not a joke. They say he was stolen from the front porch of their office, after first being lost by Delta Airlines.
…The Portland Police Bureau on Wednesday confirmed it had taken an online report, Case #22-903851, about a large canvas bag containing a mascot costume that was stolen off a porch on 92nd Avenue.
…Dillon’s saga allegedly began on a return flight from Santo Domingo, headed back to Portland via JFK airport. He was returning from an appearance at a Caribbean baseball series. That’s when owner Alan Miller says Delta lost his luggage and the large black duffle bag with Dillon inside.
After several days in limbo, Dillon was reportedly dropped off via delivery outside the Pickles office, located in what looks like a residential house at 5308 92nd Ave. Ring camera footage provided by Miller shows a man dropping off a duffle bag, taking a photo of the front porch and then ringing the doorbell before walking away. The dropoff occurred at 7:15 p.m. Feb. 8, according to the video time stamp, after business hours for the Pickles team.
At 4:58 a.m. Feb. 9, Ring video then shows someone walking up and taking the bag. The person is wearing an Adidas backpack, over-the-ear headphones, a face covering and beanie hat.
Here’s that video, from the team account:
A very disappointing twist. Dillon was found by @Delta and delivered to our office after hours, with no notification. At 4:58AM, this person stole him off the front porch. This is turned from a mistake by @Delta to a crime. https://t.co/6QtEikCcfP pic.twitter.com/D3mBhSdUxS
— Portland Pickles (@picklesbaseball) February 9, 2022
It’s certainly unfortunate that someone would seemingly take a mascot costume. And that costume would seem to have much more value to the Pickles than to anyone else. Hopefully this will soon be returned.
