Remembering The Evangeline League: Hal Newhouser

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 took a look back at the 1957 season.

Today, Hal Newhouser.

Newhouser, who pitched for the Alexandria Aces in 1939, is the only player from the Evangeline League to eventually be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Newhouser was 8-4 with a 2.38 ERA. over 12 games with Alexandria in 1939.

Later that year, the left-hander made his debut for the Detriot Tigers, who he pitched for over 17 seasons, accumulating a 207-150 record with a career 3.06 ERA.

A seven-time All-Star, Newhouser won back-to-back MVP Awards in 1944 and 1945, going 54-18 over those two seasons.

Considered the best pitcher in baseball during World War II, Newhouser won more games before his 30th birthday than any other pitcher of the live ball era with 188, winning his 189th game on his 30th birthday.

Newhouser, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992 by the Veteran's Committee played in the World Series with the Tigers in 1945, and again in 1954 as a member of the Cleveland Indians.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Newhouser passed away in 1998.