Remembering The Evangeline League: Harry Elliott

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 Roy Price.

Today, Harry Elliott

Elliott was a right-handed hitting outfielder, who played one season in the Evangeline League, before spending parts of two seasons playing Major League Baseball.

Elliott attended the played both baseball and football at the University of Minnesota, serving as a punter on the school's football team, before beginning his pro baseball career as a 27-year-old in 1951, playing for the Alexandria Aces.

The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Elliott proved to be a tough out, hitting a .391, to go along with 221 hits, 52 doubles, and 23 home runs.

The 221 hits he collected were the most in a single season in Evangeline League history.

After two more minor league stops in Shreveport and Houston, Elliott's contract was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1953.

In parts of two seasons (1953 & 1955) with the Cardinals, Elliott hit a .256 with 2 homes runs and 18 runs batted in.

In seven minor league seasons, Elliott compiled a career average of a .326, to go along with 65 homers and 261 RBI's.

After his playing days ended, Elliott became a baseball coach for El Cajon Valley High School in El Cajon, California.

Elliott passed away in 2013 in Kansas, at the age of 89.