As the Department of Energy prepares to reshape the state of business at the Hanford’s Site by switching its industry affiliations at the former plutonium-production campus, Major League Baseball has proposed abandoning its affiliation with a hometown fixture that arrived before the current slate of cleanup contractors: the Tri-City Dust Devils Minor League Baseball club.
The news broke around Thanksgiving that Major League Baseball (MLB) wanted to end its affiliation with 42 minor league franchises, and the Dust Devils stand out on the list for being the team closest to any Department of Energy nuclear-weapon site, shuttered or active, of any team that MLB wants to “contract:” the official industry term for the league’s proposal to shrink the minor leagues.
The Dust Devils home park is a mere 15 miles southeast of the heart of the Hanford Site, cleanup of which in 2019 accounted for nearly a third of the roughly $6.5-billion annual budget of the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Office.
The Idaho Falls Chukars — it’s a kind of pheasant — are the only other minor league team slated for contraction that is less than an hour over the road from a DOE nuclear site: 52 miles from the Idaho National Laboratory, which is a 54 minute drive, if traffic is light and you obey the speed limit strictly.
One need not look too hard to find links between the Department of Energy’s weapons complex and the Dust Devils, who moved to Washington state from neighboring Oregon in 2001. Hanford’s big-money contractors, Mission Support Alliance, CH2M Plateau Remediation, and Washington River Protection Solutions, all have supported the team or events at its home park, Gesa Stadium, in some capacity during the performance periods of their current contracts.
Likewise, for three years running, the Dust Devils have hosted Hanford Worker Appreciation Night, during which anyone who worked in the weapons complex, at Hanford or elsewhere, could attend a game for free.
In statements to media, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), congressman for the federal district that includes the Hanford Site and the Dust Devils, said he “strongly opposed” Major League Baseball’s proposed to cut its ties with the Dust Devils, and that it would be a “big loss” if that happened.
According to the website BallParkDigest.com, the Dust Devils of the Class A Northwest League drew just over 87,000 fans in their 38-game season in 2019, which ran from mid-June to mid-September.
That was about flat year-over-year for the low-level affiliate of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres. Of the 42 minor league teams Major League Baseball has proposed cutting loose, that puts the Tri-City home club in upper two thirds of the pack for attendance.
Overall, the Dust Devils were 115th out of 160 total Minor League teams, according to Ballpark Digest. It’s worth remembering, however, that the Dust Devils play at one of the lowest levels of all affiliated baseball clubs, and their season is about two months shorter than either Major League Baseball, or some of the higher levels of the minors.
Even within the minor leagues, a lot of the Dust Devils’ competition is from higher-level clubs playing closer to major media markets in more densely populated areas.
Since the initial contraction announcement last month, prospects have only dimmed for the Dust Devils and their major league brethren. This month, Major League Baseball decided to play hardball in its negotiations with minor league owners, and suggested that the bigs might discontinue their existing affiliations with all 250-plus minor league teams and let the MLB clubs affiliate with whatever teams they like.
Meanwhile, the Dust Devils will twirl in the Tri-City area at least for another year; the 2020 season is the last covered by the existing accord between MLB and the minor league clubs.
