Tri-City Dust Devils Founded in 2001 Pasco, Washington |
|||||
|
|||||
Class-level | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Current | Class A-Short Season (1979–present) | ||||
Minor league affiliations | |||||
League | Northwest League (1979–present) | ||||
Division | North Division | ||||
Major league affiliations | |||||
Current | San Diego Padres (2015–present) | ||||
Previous |
|
||||
Minor league titles | |||||
League titles (1) | 1997 | ||||
Division titles (5) |
|
||||
Team data | |||||
Nickname | Tri-City Dust Devils (2001–present) | ||||
Previous names
|
|
||||
Colors | Navy blue, gold, white |
||||
Ballpark | Gesa Stadium (2001–present) | ||||
Previous parks
|
|
||||
Owner(s)/
Operator(s) |
George Brett / Northwest Baseball Ventures | ||||
Manager | Ben Fritz | ||||
General Manager | Derrel Ebert |
The Tri-City Dust Devils are a minor league baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Pasco, Washington. The team's first season was in 2001, moving up the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.
A member of the short-season Class A Northwest League, the Dust Devils are a farm team of the San Diego Padres. The Devils play their home games at Gesa Stadium, which opened in 1995 and has a seating capacity of 3,654. The games are carried on the radio on Newstalk 870 AM KFLD and on their website.
The club had a long affiliation with the Colorado Rockies, which ended after the 2014 season.
The Dust Devils were founded in 1979 in Bend, Oregon, as the Central Oregon Phillies; they replaced the Bend Timber Hawks, an Oakland Athletics affiliate. After just one season in Bend in 1978, owner Doug Emmans relocated the Timber Hawks south to Medford and they became the Medford Athletics (or A's) in 1979.
Central Oregon won the league title in their first season in 1979, finishing with the best regular season record at 43–28 (.606), and winning the league championship series over Walla Walla, taking the deciding third game by a run at home in Bend.
The team was renamed three times while in Bend, first after an ownership change, it was simplified in 1981 to Bend Phillies for six additional seasons. Owner Jack Cain had contemplated changing the nickname to "Beavers" in December 1985, but didn't. Following the 1986 season, the Phillies decided to move its minor league teams closer to the East Coast; they had previously announced they were ending their Triple-A affiliation with Portland of the Pacific Coast League, moving to Maine in the International League. The Phillies had just one short season A affiliate in 1987, Utica in the New York–Penn League.