page_title: Peoria Chiefs
section_title: Current franchise
hierarchical_section_title: Peoria Chiefs / History / Current franchise
caption_attribution_description: English: Peoria Chiefs in action in 1990. I took this picture.
context_page_description: The Peoria Chiefs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the Class A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Peoria, Illinois, and are named for the Peoria Indian tribe for which the city was named. The team plays its home games at Dozer Park which opened in 2002. The Chiefs previously played at Vonachen Stadium near Bradley University from 1983 through 2001.
  The team was established in 1983 as the Peoria Suns.
context_section_description: The Peoria Suns were established in 1983. They played their home games at Meinen Field, built in 1968, near the Bradley University campus. The team's name was changed to the Chiefs in 1984. The 1984 team was managed by future Major League Baseball manager Joe Maddon.
  The 1988 team, managed by future major league manager Jim Tracy, was the subject of the Joseph Bosco book The Boys Who Would Be Cubs.
  Meinen Field was renovated before the 1992 season and renamed Vonachen Stadium in honor of Chiefs' owner Pete Vonachen. The team moved to a new park in downtown Peoria, Dozer Park, on May 24, 2002. They set a franchise attendance record of 254,407 people in the new park's first year and also won the Midwest League championship.
  Former Cubs catcher Jody Davis managed the 2006 team. Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg was hired to manage the 2007 Chiefs. The team went 71–68 and finished the second half 40–30 in a tie for the division title, but missed the playoff on a tiebreaker. At the gate in 2007, the Chiefs broke their season attendance record with 259,794 and an average of 3,800 per game. Sandberg returned to manage the Chiefs in 2008. A Midwest League single-game attendance record was set on July 29, 2008, when the Chiefs drew a crowd of 32,103 to Wrigley Field in Chicago for a game against the Kane County Cougars.
  The Chiefs affiliation with the Cubs ended following the 2012 season. They then entered into a new player development contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.
caption: The Chiefs in action in 1990
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