One very confident fan was able to live out every baseball watcher’s dream by hitting a home run during a (sort of) real game on Saturday night.
The Portland Pickles, a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat team, held a fan appreciation night during a game against the Portland Gherkins at Walker Stadium in Portland, Ore. One lucky fan was randomly selected to take an at-bat during the game as part of the evening’s festivities.
A fan named “Dixie” got the nod and made sure not to squander his opportunity. Wearing a jersey that didn’t even match the rest of the team, Dixie was able to draw a walk during his plate appearance. He even showed off his baserunning skills with an impressive slide to second and was later driven in for a run.
We selected a random fan to take an at bat on fan appreciation night, and the rest is history.
— Portland Pickles (@picklesbaseball) August 3, 2025
“Dixie” took a walk and ended up scoring
Bro definitely played ball before. Well done 👏 pic.twitter.com/L0MsCQ2jsH
Dixie must have impressed the team enough because he got another at-bat later in the contest. He worked a full count and clobbered the payoff pitch to deep left-center field for a two-run home run in the eighth inning.
The Portland Pickles pulled a random fan out of the stands and he hit a BOMB pic.twitter.com/aUHLeygUYi
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) August 3, 2025
Dixie was later rewarded with an ice bath after helping lead the Pickles to victory.
aaaand dixie gets the ice bath pic.twitter.com/9etlAB0Qrs
— Portland Pickles (@picklesbaseball) August 3, 2025
The bad news is that the game does not count toward the Pickles’ regular season record. The Pickles team Dixie suited up for was a collection of “All-Stars” playing against the Gherkins, who are directly affiliated with the Pickles, as their related names suggest.
Dixie’s feat was still impressive, nonetheless.
The real Pickles took care of business as well, winning their road matchup 9-5 against the Marion Berries on the same night. The defending West Coast League champion Pickles have a 42-9 record heading into the final three games of the regular season.
The Pickles may want to consider bringing Dixie on as a bench bat ahead their title defense in the playoffs.
