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The FBI couldn't do it. But maybe fans of collegiate woodbat baseball will have better luck solving one of the most baffling crimes in American history.
This Sunday, June 23, Lents' own Portland Pickles are having a night dedicated to D.B. Cooper, the pseudonym of the man who, in 1971, hijacked a Boeing 727 somewhere between Portland and Seattle, stole $200,000 in ransom money and parachuted away, never to be seen again.
It was never determined whether Cooper lived or died after leaping from the airplane, and the FBI closed the investigation in 2016.
Apparently, though, the Pickles organization must think they gave up too easily. At the game this weekend against the Victoria HarbourCats, the team is inviting attendees "to come forward with any info related to the infamous hijacking."
"We will put together all the clues throughout the evening," the team Tweeted, "and finally solve the case!"
DB Cooper Night presented by @ColumbiaBankNW on Sunday, 6/23! The Pickles are asking all fans to come forward with any info related to the infamous hijacking of a Boeing 727. We will put together all the clues throughout the evening and finally solve the case! #staypickled pic.twitter.com/iqaYVAm1eC
— Portland Pickles (@picklesbaseball) June 19, 2019
"We always want to keep the fans on their toes," he says.
Related: You'll Be Able to Buy CBD Products at Portland Pickles Games This Summer.
So other than solving a four-decade-old cold case, what does DB Cooper Night entail? Campbell says there'll be a sketch artist on site, drawing people's descriptions of who they think Cooper really is. And there will naturally be team-branded money—or "Dillon Bucks," named after the franchise mascot—scattered throughout the grounds of Walker Stadium in Lents.
Campbell says the team has other off-the-wall ideas planned for summer, including "Tattoo Tuesday," where fans get the Pickles' logo tattooed in the stadium, and FOMO Night, a social media contest where guests can pose in front of different backdrops in an attempt to make their friends jealous. On July 4, the team will play an exhibition game they're dubbing "the Future of Baseball," played under rules that don't actually exist yet.
But the team is going to have some competition when it comes to D.B. Cooper-themed activities—a boat tour taking guests to the spot along the Columbia River where some of Cooper's ransom money was found is also happening this weekend.