The Memphis Chicks were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Southern League from 1978 to 1997. They were located in Memphis, Tennessee, and played their home games at Tim McCarver Stadium. They served as a farm club for four Major League Baseball teams: the Montreal Expos (1978–1983), Kansas City Royals (1984–1994), San Diego Padres (1995–1996), and Seattle Mariners (1997). The Chicks were named for the Memphis Chickasaws, who were charter members of the Southern Association that played in Memphis from 1901 to 1960.

Over the course of their 20-year run, the Chicks played in 2,858 regular season games and compiled a win–loss record of 1,419–1,439. Memphis reached the postseason on seven occasions, winning seven half-season titles, two division titles, and one Southern League championship. They won their lone league title in 1990 as an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The team had an overall postseason record of 15–21.

The first professional baseball team in Memphis was the Memphis Reds of the League Alliance in 1877. A different Reds team was created as a charter member of the original Southern League in 1885. The city's Southern League team was known as the Grays in 1886 and 1888, the Browns in 1887, simply Memphis in 1889, the Giants in 1892 and 1894, the Fever Germs in 1893, and the Lambs/Giants in 1895.

The city's longest-operating baseball team, first known as Memphis Egyptians, was formed in 1901 as a charter member of the Southern Association. From 1909 to 1911, this club was called the Turtles before receiving its best-known moniker, the Chickasaws, often shortened to Chicks, in 1912. The original Chicks remained in the league through 1960, winning eight pennants, one playoff championship, and one Dixie Series title. Russwood Park, their home ballpark, was destroyed by fire in April 1960. With the cost of building a new facility too high, the team dropped out of the league after the 1960 season.

After a seven-year span with no professional team, Memphis became host to the Memphis Blues, a Double-A team of the Texas League, in 1968. The team played at Blues Stadium, a converted American Legion field which opened in 1963 and was located at the former Mid-South Fairgrounds. After six seasons, the Blues moved up to the Triple-A International League in 1974, but the franchise was revoked by the league due to financial problems after the 1976 season.

In 1978, a new Memphis Chicks team was created as an expansion franchise of the Double-A Southern League playing in its Western Division as an affiliate of the Montreal Expos. The Expos moved their Double-A affiliation from the Québec Metros in Quebec City to Memphis because of the circuit's better climate. The Chicks played their home games at Blues Stadium, which was renamed Tim McCarver Stadium in honor of Tim McCarver, a Memphis native, former Chickasaw, and major league ballplayer.

The Chicks played their first game on April 15, 1978, at home against the Nashville Sounds, who also joined the league as an expansion team. After going up 1–0 in the first inning, Nashville tied the game in the third and went ahead, 2–1, in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the inning, however, Memphis answered with three unearned runs, sealing their first win, 4–2. On August 20, Mike Finlayson pitched a seven-inning no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader against the Montgomery Rebels in Memphis. The Southern League used a split-season schedule wherein the season was divided into two halves, and the division winners from each half qualified for the postseason championship playoffs. Memphis placed second in both halves and finished their inaugural season with a record of 71–73. Outfielder Eddie Gates was selected as the Southern League Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Memphis ended the first half of the 1979 season tied for first place with Montgomery. They won the First Half Western Division title by defeating the Rebels, 2–1, in a one-game playoff. They lost the best-of-three Western Division championship series to Nashville, the second half winner, two games to one. The Chicks won the first half again in 1980, this time defeating the Sounds, 3–1, to advance to the finals, but they lost to the Charlotte O's, 3–1.