Baseball Shorts: Why the Peoria Chiefs Sport a Dalmatian as Their (Cap) Logo

In today’s episode of Baseball Shorts, we pay attention to the fact why the Peoria Chiefs sport a Dalmatian dog as their (cap) logo.

With a name like the Chiefs, one can expect that the club from Peoria once had a native American themed logo. With the political correctness spreading like a wild fire, the club

With a name like the Chiefs, one can expect that the club from Peoria once had a native American-themed logo. With the political correctness spreading like a wildfire, the club slowly moved from the native American-themed logo to the current Dalmatian logo.

Below, you can see the evolution of the Chiefs’ logos through the years.

In 1996, the club moved to a cardinal bird logo with a nod to the native American theme as the bird wore a head band and feathers.

Only in in 2005, the Chiefs had a “rebranding” as they changed from the cardinal logo to the firefighter helmet-wearing Dalmatian.

And then the million-dollar question… Why do the Peoria Chiefs use a Dalmatian dog in their logo nowadays? Well, in the days that firefighters or fire chiefs had fire engines that were drawn by horses, they also trained Dalmatian dogs to run in front of the engines to help clear a path and guide the horses and the firefighters to the fires quickly. Nowadays, Dalmatians are still chosen as pets by firefighters in honor of their heroism in the past.

So with the change to the firefighter helmet-wearing Dalmatian, the club played it safe and avoided criticism regarding the old native American logo.