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There’s just something about a hot summer day at the ballpark that makes a person crave lactic acid.
Starting this June, as their thighs stick to the fiberglass seats at Walker Stadium in Lents, Portland Pickles fans can now chomp down on—you guessed it—a pickle. Not just any old brined cucumber, but the Great West League collegiate baseball team’s first official pickle.
And not just a lone cucumiform straight from the jar: This season, the Portland Pickles have partnered with Wickles Pickles, a century-old Alabama pickler, to sell pickles on a stick, pickle chips, even “pickletinis.” The deck behind home plate will even be converted into the “Wickles Pickles Party Deck” to offer various pickle-related tastings throughout the season.
“We want to make pickles a staple in ballpark food,” says Ross Campbell, the team’s general manager. “It’s an amazing snack that most people don’t think to eat, but if everyone around you is snacking on it, you’ll want to see what the fuss is about.”
It’s such an obvious concept, it’s worth asking what the heck took so long. The process of naming an official pickle for a baseball team whose identity is a pickle is a monumental task. But Campbell said the decision to go with Wickles was easy.
“They’ve dedicated their lives to pickles,” he says. “We don’t know how to make pickles that well, but we know how to play as the Pickles.”
Walker Stadium, 4727 SE 92nd Ave., #4601. See portlandpicklesbaseball.com for schedule.
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