PEORIA — There is good news and there is bad news for Peoria Chiefs fans.

The bad news is the Chicago Cubs decided not to renew their affiliation with the Peoria Chiefs, last month. The good news is the St. Louis Cardinals recently agreed to a four-year affiliation with the Peoria Chiefs.

“We are extremely pleased to have a new four-year affiliation in place with the Chiefs and Peoria community,” said Cardinals’ Senior Vice President/General Manager John Mozeliak in a news release. “We know how Peoria and central Illinois represent a big part of what Cardinals Nation is all about.”
The Cubs relocated its affiliation from the Peoria Chiefs minor league organization to the Kane County Cougars minor league organization, while the Cardinals relocated its affiliation from the Quad Cities River Bandits minor league organization to the Peoria Chiefs.
The Peoria Chiefs were an affiliate of the Cardinals from 1995-2004, before they became an affiliate of the Cubs in 2005. The Cardinals contacted the Chiefs when they learned the Cubs ended their affiliation in Peoria.
“We had a plan to call them on the first day we could negotiate and they actually beat us to it as Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak sent a text message that morning to Rocky Vonachen who returned the call and the conversation started,” said Peoria Chiefs Broadcast and Media Manager Nathan Baliva. “They enjoyed their time here from 1995-2004 and had success both on and off the field in that 10-year stretch, so hopefully that helped us this time around.”
Baliva thinks Peoria Chiefs fans will embrace the affiliation change.
“There is a sense of excitement right now that hopefully we can carry through the offseason and build off that momentum with the change to the Cardinals,” said Baliva.
As a result of the affiliation change, the 2012 Peoria Chiefs coaching staff will be replaced this offseason.
“The front office staff, our sales, marketing, media and ticket departments will stay the same,” said Baliva. “These 12-14 individuals are year-round employees of the Peoria Chiefs and the affiliation does not affect them. The coaches and other field staff will all change as we will now have Cardinals-hired coaches, instead of Cubs coaches.”
During their eight-year run in the Quad Cities, the Cardinals’ Midwest League team posted an overall record of 587-515, a winning percentage of .533. They made the playoffs five times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011) and won the Midwest League Championship in 2011.
As a Cubs affiliate from 2005-2011, the Chiefs were 549-559 and made the playoffs twice, in 2006 and 2009. The affiliation never won a playoff series during its time in Peoria.
From 1995-2004, as an affiliate of the Cardinals, the Chiefs made the playoffs four times and won the Midwest League Championship in 2002, the minor league organization’s only championship. Sixty players that played in Peoria between 1995 and 2004 under the Cardinals developed into Major League players, including Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Dan Haren, Rick Ankiel, Placido Polanco, Coco Crisp, Jason Motte, Chris Duncan, Jack Wilson, Pablo Ozuna and Chris Narveson.
Four different Major League organizations have brought affiliates to Peoria, during the 30-year history of the minor league organization. The organization began in 1983 as the California Angels-affiliated Peoria Suns. After a name change to the Chiefs in 1984, the organization welcomed the Chicago Cubs as an affiliate in 1985 for a 10-year run. There was also a three-month span in which the Chiefs were affiliated with the Boston Red Sox during the 1994 offseason, though they never played a game under the Red Sox.