Peoria Chiefs

The Peoria Chiefs are a High-A Minor League Baseball team in the Midwest League, affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals. The franchise began in 1983 as the Peoria Suns, based in Peoria, Illinois. The team’s name honors the Peoria Indian tribe, after which the city itself was named. In 2002, the Chiefs replaced their Native American logo with one featuring a cardinal; this was swapped again in 2005 for a dalmatian dressed as a fire chief.

Home games are played at Dozer Park, which opened in 2002. Before that, from 1983 through 2001, the team played at Vonachen Stadium near Bradley University. Over their history, the Chiefs have reached the playoffs 13 times, via eight wild-card berths, three first-half titles, and two second-half titles.

Earlier professional baseball in Peoria

Professional baseball in Peoria stretches back to the late 1800s. Teams like the Peoria Reds, Peoria Canaries, and Peoria Blackbirds played in various early leagues between 1878 and 1895. Their first ballpark, Sylvan Park, was at the corner of Northeast Glendale Avenue and Spring Street, where St. Augustine Manor now stands. In 1883, the club moved a few blocks toward Peoria Lake to Lake View Park, at the southeast corner of Northeast Adams Street and Grant Street, which hosted Peoria teams for the next 40 years.

The 1895 club was called the Peoria Distillers, after the Hiram Walker plant. From 1891 to 1911, Frank E. Murphy of Green Bay, Wisconsin, bought the Peoria team of the Midwest League and renamed them the Peoria Hoosiers. That nickname stuck for decades, including during the team’s first stint in the Three-I League from 1905 to 1917. After World War I, the Peoria Tractors name became popular in 1919, reflecting the nearby branch of what would become Caterpillar Inc. In 1923, the team opened Woodruff Field, named for a long-time Peoria mayor, just across Grant Street from Lake View Park.

The Tractors played in several leagues until folding after the 1937 season, leaving Peoria without professional baseball for 15 years. The name Peoria Chiefs first appeared with a new Three-I League franchise in 1953, but that club disbanded after 1957, and the city went another 25 years without pro ball until the current Chiefs arrived. The Woodruff Field site is now a softball facility called Woodruff Park.

Current franchise

The current franchise began in 1983 when the Danville Suns moved from Danville, Illinois, to Peoria, playing at Meinen Field, built in 1968 near Bradley University. The team was renamed the Chiefs in 1984. That year’s squad was managed by future Major League manager Joe Maddon. The 1988 team, managed by future big-league skipper Jim Tracy, was the subject of Joseph Bosco’s book The Boys Who Would Be Cubs.

Meinen Field was renovated before the 1992 season and renamed Vonachen Stadium after owner Pete Vonachen. The Chiefs moved to Dozer Park in downtown Peoria on May 24, 2002. In that first season at the new park, they set a franchise attendance record of 254,407 and won the Midwest League championship. Former Cubs catcher Jody Davis managed the 2006 team.

Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg managed the 2007 Chiefs, who went 71–68 and finished the second half 40–30, tying for the division title but missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker. That season set a new attendance record of 259,794, averaging 3,800 per game. Sandberg returned in 2008, and on July 29, the Chiefs set a Midwest League single-game attendance record with 32,103 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago against the Kane County Cougars. The Chiefs’ affiliation with the Cubs ended after the 2012 season, and they signed a player-development contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Under MLB’s 2021 minor league restructuring, the Chiefs were placed in the High-A Central, which was renamed the Midwest League in 2022. The team is owned by Peoria Chiefs Community Baseball LLC.

2008 brawl

On July 23, 2008, during a game against the Dayton Dragons, three Chiefs batters were hit by pitches. The next day, in the first inning, Chiefs pitcher Julio Castillo hit Dragons batter Zack Cozart in the head. Two batters later, Castillo hit Angel Cabrera in the arm and nearly hit another Dragon in the head. Cabrera then spiked the Chiefs shortstop on a slide at second base.

Chiefs fill-in manager Carmelo Martinez argued with the umpire, drawing Dragons manager Donnie Scott into a heated exchange. During the argument, Castillo threw a ball toward the Dragons’ dugout, striking a fan, who was taken to the hospital. Brandon Menchaca tackled Castillo from behind as both benches cleared, delaying the game for 69 minutes. After the game, Castillo was arrested for felonious assault.

The injured fan, Chris McCarthy, suffered a concussion but recovered. On August 8, 2009, Castillo was convicted of felonious assault causing serious physical injury and sentenced to 30 days in jail. In April 2010, a judge released Castillo from probation on the condition that he leave the United States and not return for at least three years.