Professional baseball league
Evangeline League
Classification
| Class C
(1949?1957)
Class D
( (1934?1942, 1946?1948)
|
---|
Sport
| Minor League Baseball
|
---|
First season
| 1934
|
---|
Ceased
| 1957
|
---|
No. of teams
| 17
|
---|
Country
| United States
|
---|
The
Evangeline League
began in
1934
as a six?team
Class D
level
minor league
with teams based in
Louisiana
,
United States
, later adding
Mississippi
and
Texas
based franchises. In 1935, the league was expanded to eight teams and ceased operations in 1942, with six teams, during
World War II
. It resumed activities in 1946, getting promoted to
Class C
in 1949, and lasted through 1957. The
Alexandria Aces
were the only team that played in all 21 regular seasons.
[1]
[2]
Due to its association with spicy
Cajun cuisine
, the league was commonly referred to as the "Pepper Sauce League" or the "Tabasco Circuit".
[3]
Newspapers often abbreviated the league's name as "Vangy" or "Vangey" in headlines.
History
[
edit
]
1946 gambling scandal
[
edit
]
The Evangeline League was affected by a gambling scandal that surfaced after the 1946 Championship series. After the completion of the playoffs, which were won by the
Houma Indians
, allegations emerged that Houma Indians and
Abbeville Athletics
players had conspired with gamblers to achieve desired outcomes of three playoff games. At the October 23, 1946 league meeting, it was alleged that Houma players conspired with gamblers for Houma to lose the fourth game of the first round of the playoffs, lose the first game of the second round and win the fourth game of the second round. After learning of the allegations, Judge W. G. Bramham, president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, summoned the unnamed accused players to attend a hearing on January 10?11, 1947. After interviews and further investigation, five players were put on the ineligible list, meaning they could not play in minor league baseball. Houma players William "Bill" Thomas, Leonard Pecou, Alvin Kaiser and Paul Fugit and Don Vettorel of Abbeville were placed on the ineligible list by Branham for their actions. Later, Thomas and Pecou appealed and were ultimately restored to eligibility by George Trautman, Bramham's successor after two years. On August 22, 1949, both players were reinstated and allowed to immediately to return to the Houma roster. After his reinstatement, Thomas would continue his career to set the minor league career records for total games, victories, losses, hits and runs. Baseball reference shows his career record as 305?264 over 24 seasons and other sources have his minor league win total at 383.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
1956?1957 boycotts
[
edit
]
The Evangeline League permanently folded following the 1957 season and had never become an integrated league, despite the efforts of major league affiliates (the
Chicago Cubs
) to assign players to the
Lafayette Oilers
and integrate team rosters. Lafayette was an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. In 1956, some boycotts of attending games began after the Lafayette Oilers refused to accept the players to their team. Subsequently, Lafayette Parrish, home of the
Baton Rouge Rebels
, passed legislation making it illegal for black players to play in its ballparks. The Evangeline League itself also officially banned non?white players from appearing on their rosters. These blocks forced the major league teams to reassign the players to other leagues. Due to boycotts, the 1956 playoff finals, featuring Lafayette, were cancelled as a result. Both the Lafayette Oilers and the Baton Rouge Rebels folded before the end of the 1957 season, on June 20, 1957.
[12]
[13]
[14]
Playoff history
[
edit
]
Starting in its second year, the Evangeline League used a
Shaughnessy
two-round playoff system in which the teams with the teams with the first- and fourth-best records and the second- and third-best records would compete in a semifinal round with the winners competing for the league pennant. In 1948, the league canceled its playoffs due to bad weather, which had reduced attendance significantly,
[15]
and again in 1956 due to "decreased interest and attendance."
[16]
In both 1942 and 1957, the league folded before a playoff series could be held.
In terms of repeat league champions, the
Hammond Berries
won the pennant three times, as did the
Lafayette White Sox/Oilers
; the
Alexandria Aces
and
New Iberia Cardinals/Pelicans
won twice; and the
Baton Rouge Red Sticks
,
Crowley Millers
,
Houma Indians
,
Jeanerette Blues
,
Lake Charles Skippers
,
Opelousas Indians
, and
Thibodaux Giants
each won once.
List of teams (in alphabetical order)
[
edit
]
- Abbeville, LA
:
Abbeville Athletics
(1935?1939, 1946?1950, 1952)
- Alexandria, LA
:
Alexandria Aces
(1934?1942, 1946?1957)
- Baton Rouge, LA
:
Baton Rouge Red Sticks
(1946?1955);
Baton Rouge Rebels
(1956?1957)
- Crowley, LA
:
Crowley Millers
(1951?1957)
- Hammond, LA
:
Hammond Berries
(1946?1951)
- Houma, LA
:
Houma Buccaneers
(1940);
Houma Indians
(1946?1952)
- Jeanerette, LA
:
Jeanerette Blues
(1935?1939)
- Lafayette, LA
:
Lafayette Bulls
(1948?1953);
Lafayette Oilers
(1954?1957);
Lafayette White Sox
(1934?1942)
- Lake Charles, LA
:
Lake Charles Explorers
(1934);
Lake Charles Skippers
(1935?1942);
Lake Charles Lakers
(1954?1955);
Lake Charles Giants
(1956?1957)
|
|
- Monroe, LA
:
Monroe Sports
(1956)
- Natchez, MS
:
Natchez Pilgrims
(1940?1941);
Natchez Giants
(1942, 1946?1947)
- New Iberia, LA
:
New Iberia Cardinals
(1934?1942, 1946?1947, 1949, 1953);
New Iberia Pelicans
(1948, 1951?1952, 1954?1955);
New Iberia Rebels
(1950);
New Iberia Indians
(1956)
- Opelousas, LA
:
Opelousas Indians
(1934?1941)
- Port Arthur, TX
:
Port Arthur Tarpons
(1940?1942);
Port Arthur Sea Hawks
(1954)
- Rayne, LA
:
Rayne Red Sox
(1934);
Rayne Rice Birds
(1935?1941)
- Texas City, TX
:
Texas City Pilots
(1954)
- Thibodaux, LA
:
Thibodaux Giants
(1946?1953);
Thibodaux Pilots
(1954);
Thibodaux Senators
(1956?1957)
|
Etymology
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Evangeline League"
. Retrieved
2015-03-11
.
- ^
Lloyd Johnson; Miles Wolff, eds. (2007).
The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball
(Third ed.).
Baseball America
.
ISBN
978-1932391176
.
- ^
Taylor, Doug (1995). "A Community and Its Team: The Evangeline League's Lafayette White Sox, 1934?1942".
Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association
.
36
(2): 149?170.
ISSN
0024-6816
.
JSTOR
4233175
.
- ^
"William Thomas Minor Leagues Statistics & History"
.
Baseball-Reference.com
.
- ^
"This Day in Baseball"
. January 25, 1947.
- ^
"Evangeline Baseball League"
.
64 Parishes
.
- ^
"William Thomas Statistics on StatsCrew.com"
.
www.statscrew.com
.
- ^
"Legendary Minor League records"
.
www.milb.com
.
- ^
"Remembering The Evangeline League: 1946"
.
SPORTS RADIO ESPN 1420
.
- ^
BarrouquereCorrespondent, Elizabeth.
"Evangeline League: Betting scandal marred baseball circuit's reputation"
.
Houma Today
.
- ^
"The Evangeline League Scandal of 1946"
.
research.sabr.org
.
- ^
"A League of Their Own"
. May 31, 2013.
- ^
"Minor League history: Evangeline League"
. August 21, 2016.
- ^
Barrouquere, Elizabeth (December 26, 2015).
"Evangeline League Archives Provide Glimpse of Past"
.
Houma Today
. Houma, Louisiana.
- ^
"Evangeline League Playoffs Cancelled in Move Unprecedented in Organized Baseball"
.
Lafayette Advertiser
. Vol. 35, no. 125. Lafayette, Louisiana. September 18, 1948. p. 10 – via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"Teams Losing Money — Playoffs Called Off in Evangeline League"
.
The Shreveport Journal
. Vol. 62. Shreveport, Louisiana. September 12, 1956. p. 14 – via
Newspapers.com
.
External links
[
edit
]
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