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| Peoria Chiefs | |
| Ballpark | O'Brien Field |
| League | Midwest League |
| Address | 730 SW Jefferson Peoria, IL 61602 us |
| Telephone | 309/688-1622 |
| Website | http://www.peoriachiefs.com |
| team@chiefs net.com | |
| Related Links | Find Nearby Attractions Yahoo!Maps Google Maps Google Maps (satellite image, images sometimes unavailable) |
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Peoria Chiefs - User Comments Add your own
Peoria Chiefs -- 2005-08-02
Ah, the Chiefs. I have no recollection of the old stadium in Peoria; by the time I moved here, the Chiefs had closed out their run at old Vonachen Field and were building O'Brien Stadium. Let me just say, that it's a great place to watch a game. Not a bad seat in the house, of course, with 8,000 lower bowl seats only, it's really not that much of an accomplishment, but the best value are lawn seats. Bring a blanket and just in the grass down the third base line. Good stuff. Lots of family oriented entertainment, Budweiser Thirsty Thursdays, etc. Quality of play is sometimes not that great, but that's what you expect from an A-ball league, I guess. The park is located in downtown Peoria, with the front entrance at Jefferson and Oak St. The other nice thing is that the park is within walk-able distance from downtown Peoria; and most of the bars on Main St. are open until 4 AM on weekend nights, so you can have yourself a good ol' time.
Matt M.
O'Brien Field -- 2005-06-22
O'Brien Field has evolved into one of the most beautiful low-Class-A parks in the minors. It really has a lot of qualities to it that mock a scaled down version of Wrigley.
Unfortunately for me, they switched from being a Cardinals affiliate back to a Cubs affiliate this year (they had been a Cards affiliate for approximately 10 years...before that they were once again the Cubs).
Recently, they have produced players like Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. I actually saw both of those men play with the Chiefs. Past Chiefs have included Greg Maddox, Rafael Palmeiro, and Mark Grace. In totaly 70 Chiefs have gone on to be Major Leaguers at this point.
One last point...it is also a great place to see Major League stars on rehab assignments. It is the lowest affiliate (aside from an Extended Spring Training or Rookie League), so I have seen stars on rehab like Jason Isringhausen, Steve Kline, Mike Matheny, Joe Girardi, and Rick Ankiel (who is now playing full time outfield for the Chiefs' Midwest League rival the Swing of the Quad Cities).
I strongly recommend a trip to O'Brien!
New Stadium in Peoria -- 2002-05-24
The Peoria Chiefs are opening a new stadium tonight (5/24/02), O'Brien Field. It has about 8,000 seats and has all of the new stadium perks. It is in the downtown area, so it shouldn't be hard to find.
-- 2001-07-09
Vonachen Stadium is a nice park to spend a night at. The attendance is about 2500 a night out of a total 5000. So, as the previous person wrote, it is easy to get a ticket. They usually have funny acts between innings, and they hand things out. The team this year in 2001 is terrible, but it'll get better because it's minor league baseball. Yes, the "Mr. Trash" is still there and doing his thing. Overall, I would say that it's a good place to spend a night of baseball at. If you're a baseball fan and in Peoria I would reccomend that you pay Vonachen stadium a visit.
A fun place to watch a game -- 2001-06-06
I spent a summer internship in Peoria in 1997 and spent many nights at the ballpark. The games aren't terribly well-attended, so you can always walk up and get a good seat.
Funniest memory: There was a guy working there that summer who's job it was to pick up trash in the stands during the game. He wore Chuck Taylor basketball shoes and a tuxedo. The tuxedo jacket had an advertisement for a trash collection service on the back. We called him "Mr. Trash."
During the innings he roamed the aisles with a stick and a bag and picked up trash, but between innings he often jumped up on top of the dugout to dance the YMCA or lead cheers. If the regular mascot (whatever it was, a bird?) was up on the 3rd base dugout, then Mr. Trash would jump up on the 1st base side.
We had a great time that summer wondering what would happen if Mr. Trash and his mascot/janitor act got called up to the bigs, a la Homer in that Simpsons episode. Especially on Dollar Draught night, he gave us plenty of good laughs. Sure wish I had a picture.
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