Pete Vonachen Stadium

Fans watching the action at Vonachen Stadium, Aug-2000.

The main grandstand and the press box.

Chronological Tour: Stop 183

• Location: Nebraska Street at I-74, Peoria, Ill.
• Opened: 1984 as Meinen Field
• Additional names: Shea Stadium (2003)
• Closed: 2002 (for pro baseball)
• Home team: Peoria Chiefs, Midwest League (1984-2002)
• Capacity: 5,200

Rating: 2 baseballs

Vonachen Stadium (pronounced vuh-NOCK-in, as in “I hear Vonachen, but you can’t come in”), which was also the home of the Braves of Bradley University, located just across I-74 from the ballpark, is simply a utilitarian place for baseball. The structure is concrete, ringed by 12 rows of stadium seats and 5 rows of aluminum benches (except all benches on the ends farthest from the plate). There’s also an aluminum bench stand behind first base that provides more general admission seating. These seats look directly into the setting sun (the field points a bit west of north). I didn’t sit there until the fifth inning.

Concessions here were in the moderate range; souvenir prices were a little below the average.

After a month and a half of the 2002 season, the Chiefs moved into a new park. O’Brien Field was named for a car dealership but later became Dozer Park, after Caterpillar bulldozers. Vonachen Stadium was transformed into a soccer facility for Bradley; it is now known as Shea Stadium in honor of a benefactor who, as far as I know, was no relation to Bill Shea, for whom the old Major League park in Flushing Meadow, N.Y., was named.