Remembering The Evangeline League: Charlie Brewster

The Evangeline League was a minor league baseball league that ran in southern and central Louisiana from 1934-1957.

The league, which had it’s name taken from Evangeline, the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, began as a 6-team class D league in 1934, and then expanded to 8 teams the next season, before shutting down for two seasons following the 1943 season due to World War II.

After resuming play in 1946, the Evangeline League remained a class D league, before being promoted to the class C level in 1949.

The league remained in operation until 1957, when two of the six remaining teams dropped out, suspending play that season with no champion being named.

The Evangeline League, which featured a betting scandal back in 1946, featured teams in cities such as Lafayette, Abbeville, Crowley, Opelousas, Rayne, Jeanerette, and Lake Charles.

Despite the stability of the league, the only franchise they lasted all 21 seasons was the Alexandria Aces, while New Iberia had a franchise every season, with the exception of the final one.

Because of the close proximity of the franchises, a number of heated rivalries developed, with crowds that would certainly quality as raucous, getting into it with umpires, players, managers, and one another.

It was an immensely popular league for over two decades, with some franchises actually outdrawing some Major League Baseball franchises, in terms of attendance.

All summer long we’ll be going back in time and look back at the Evangeline League, which was commonly referred to as the “Pepper Sauce League”, “Hot Sauce League”, or “Tabasco Circuit”.

Yesterday, we remembered Bill Thomas.

Today, Charlie Brewster

Brewster was right-handed hitting shortstop for the Abbeville Athletics for two seasons, from 1937-1938.

A native of Marthaville, Louisiana, Brewster hit a .276 with Abbeville in 1937 as their player/manager, before hitting a .301 during the 1938 season.

In 1937, Brewster set a record by stealing 84 bases, a mark which would never be surpassed.

The 5-foot-8, 175-pound Brewster went on to play in Major League Baseball, playing for four teams over three season.

In 1943, Brewster played for both the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, before spending 1944 with the Chicago Cubs, and then finally, was with the Cleveland Indians in 1946, his last year in the big leagues.

Over 69 career MLB games, Brewster hit a .221 with 14 runs batted in.

After his playing days were over, Brewster was a minor league manager from 1950-1952.