Mapping the path

EASTERN MIDWEST BASEBALL

Peoria Chiefs

It's July 4th in Peoria, Illinois! We catch a parade, drive around Peoria, then have lunch at Obed & Isaac’s before our game with the Peoria Chiefs — the High-A Minor League affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals — who are decked out in holiday jerseys in their tilt against the South Bend Cubs.

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We drove west past Bradley University and found a residential road leading to the parade route. It was a pleasant scene, with members of local organizations walking down the street, smiling and waving to their fellow citizens. The Peoria City soccer team handed out gifts to kids. Members of the National Muscular Sclerosis Society passed by. A dance troupe of girls paused for a quick routine. Peoria Heights Fire Department trucks sounded horns and wailed sirens. Everyone looked happy, despite the elements.

Peoria is the oldest permanent European settlement in Illinois. Three French explorers established Fort Crevecoeur along the Illinois River in 1680. The fort burned down, and in 1813, the Americans built Fort Clark. In 1825, Fort Clark was renamed Peoria, in honor of the Algonquian-speaking Peoria people of the Illinois Confederation, who would be displaced from their land within five years.

Peoria is a port town. The Illinois River runs from the Great Lakes at Chicago to the Mississippi River in St. Louis. Peoria is its midpoint, making it an ideal trading and shipping center for the surrounding agricultural region, which produces corn, soybeans, and livestock. Manufacturing is still an essential element to the local economy, producing earthmovers, lawn-care equipment, steel towers, farm equipment, and more.

With its high ceilings, brightly decorated stained-glass windows, and elegant apse, Obed & Isaac’s is a fun place to give you this, your daily bread, meat, cheese, and beer.

And thus we both ate the 3 Twisted Pigs sandwich, with pulled pork, ham, pepper jack, spicy mayo, fried onions, and jalapeños. I added a house brew, the Peoria Skyline IPA. Amen.

Professional baseball in Peoria began with the Peoria Reds, Canaries, and Blackbirds of the 19th century, followed by the Peoria Distillers (referencing the local Hiram Walker plant), Hoosiers, and Tractors (a nod to you-know-who). From 1938 until 1983, Peoria saw just five seasons of pro ball, featuring the original iteration of the Peoria Chiefs from 1953-1957.

The current Chiefs franchise began in 1982 as a Midwest League expansion team in Danville, Indiana, called the Suns. The club moved to Peoria the next year, playing as the Peoria Suns at Meinen Field near Bradley University. The team struggled on the field and at the gate, and the Suns appeared to be setting after just two seasons. Then Pete Vonachen, “Peoria’s Mr. Baseball,” purchased the club in 1984, changed the name to the Chiefs, and saved the franchise. A businessman in the hotel and restaurant industry, Vonachen turned the organization around quickly. The Chiefs set Midwest League attendance records three times in the late 1980s and improved on the diamond as well.

Just inside the gates and behind home plate is a prominent statue of Peoria’s Mr. Baseball handing a foul ball to a young fan, unveiled on his 80th birthday in 2005.

Peoria was affiliated with the California Angels in 1983-1984. Since then, they have partnered with the Midwest’s two most popular Major League teams, the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, alternating back and forth every decade or so.

The Chiefs brand was originally associated with Native Americans. In 1996, while affiliated with St. Louis, the team’s logo became a fierce northern cardinal holding a bat, with a few Native American feathers sprouting from the back of its head. In 2005, during a transition back to the Cubs, Peoria adopted their current mascot, Homer the dalmatian fire chief.

The Chiefs averaged a little over 2,500 fans per night in 2024, 10th in the 12-team Midwest League. Famous alumni from the Cubs and Cards include Greg Maddux, Kerry Wood, Mark Grace, Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Pujols, and Yadier Molina. Joe Maddon and Ryne Sandberg both managed the Chiefs as well.

While I snapped photos on the concourse, Dad ducked into the Firehouse, Peoria’s team store, and I followed him in.

The Chiefs have a great selection of hats, hindered only by Homer’s somewhat Saturday-morning-cartoon appearance.

Peoria also has a healthy number of alternate identities. The club appears as the Pork Tenderloins, referencing a regional sandwich favorite; the Orange Barrels, recalling the ubiquitous heralds of construction season in the Midwest; Perros Bomberos, their Copa de la Diversión persona; and the throwback Peoria Distillers.

In the end, I went with Homer against a sweet powder blue that was difficult to resist.

The Chiefs wore their July 4th jerseys, with stars on one sleeve and stripes on the other. Homer and on-field staff also donned the red, white, and blue. Their rivals, the South Bend Cubs (another red, white, and blue squad), arrived as the visiting foils to the all-American home team, wearing their drabbest all-gray uniforms.

The teams came into the game with nearly identical losing records — 32-45 for the Chiefs, 32-46 for the Cubs. Neither would sniff the playoffs by season’s end.

Four members of a local U.S. Marine Color Guard marched into position on the field, and the crowd was treated to a strong July 4th rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Time to play ball.

The Chiefs put runners on board in each of the first two innings, but it was Cubs left fielder Jordan Nwogu who opened the scoring with a solo home run to left-center. We had seen Nwogu hit a game-winning home run for the Single-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans during our 2021 Carolina Baseball Road Trip.

Dad and I were met at our seats by Lynn Smith, an avid Minor League and independent baseball fan who lives in Iowa but travels frequently throughout the Midwest to catch games. She is also an avid jersey collector, picking up new specimens from jersey auctions (the secret is to bid on the jerseys of lesser-known players, she says). Smith owns 88 jerseys at the time of this writing, and probably more at the time of this reading.

At one point in the third inning, every single fan in the ballpark, including me, simultaneously decided to get something to eat. The concourse was packed. There were plenty of options, but I was determined to try the signature Pork Tenderloin Sandwich, the inspiration for the alternate identity we had seen in the Firehouse.

This photo of Honest Abe’s Grill, the exclusive home of the Pork Tenderloin Sandwich, is from much earlier. By the third inning, the lines extended nearly to the seats across the concourse. After ordering, patrons then had to wait at a separate window for their food. I spent the better part of three innings just getting lunch.

The sandwich — with a fried patty about twice the size of the bun, per tradition — was pretty good, but a little dry and perhaps not worth the wait. I rewarded Dad for his patience with a grape and strawberry snow cone.

By the top of the sixth, Nwogu had collected his third hit of the day, and the Cubs were up 4-0 on a three-run shot from right fielder Rafael Morel. Sound Bend right-hander Sam Armstrong had sailed through his start, giving up just three hits in five innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Cubs reliever Nick Hull was even more effective. He also collected seven strikeouts but did it in just three innings, allowing only one hit and one walk. The Chiefs were stymied.

I took a stroll to the outfield, where a good number of families were splayed across the grass berms.

Left-hander Jack Patterson came in to close the game in the ninth for South Bend and promptly began with two walks. Murmurs of hope rose throughout the ballpark. But the next three batters failed to reach base, and the Cubs beat the Chiefs 4-0 on a combined four-hitter.

As we waited for the sun to set for the night’s fireworks show, the team ran a Launch-a-Ball game. Fans who had purchased packs of tennis balls tossed them onto the field, hoping to have one come to a rest inside a hula hoop to win a prize. Homer stood on the mound as a target for the grand prize, holding a small bucket perfectly still and enduring occasional balls bouncing off him.

As we waited, another social media acquaintance, Alex Hyde, stopped by to say hi to Dad and me. Alex is a fan of several sports in the region who collects baseball cards (he is especially fond of 1985 Topps) and model N trains. True to form, he goes by @cardsNtrains on Twitter.

As the sky slowly began to darken, the team ran a series of off-road tricycle and quad bike races. Earlier in the day, we had seen a water balloon batting competition and the always popular Dizzy Bat. (Watch the episode!)

I took a walk with Lynn to the Road to the Show Wall, honoring ex-Chiefs who made it to the major leagues. Nearby, several vintage jerseys were on display, including one from the Peoria Redwings, the city’s entry in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1946-1951.

At last, we were ready for fireworks. The city-wide show originated from a barge on the Peoria River close to the ballpark and was broadcast by a local radio station.

When it was over, we filed out to the parking lot. Not knowing much about the town or the detours ahead to control the holiday traffic, I turned left out of the lot when I should have turned right, dooming us to spending about 45 minutes to advance just two blocks. Eventually, we wriggled loose from the clot of cars and made our way back to our hotel to rest up for another day of baseball.

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