Remembering The Evangeline League: Rod Whitney

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 Frank Oceak

Today, Rod Whitney

Whitney, a right-handed hitting catcher, managed one year in the Evangeline League, guiding the Lafayette White Sox to the league title in 1939, while also playing 17 minor league seasons.

A native of Yoakum, Texas, Whitney was the head man in the dugout for Lafayette in 1939, when the White Sox went 75-63, defeating the Jeanerette Blues, 4-games-to-1 in the league finals.

As a player in the minor leagues, Whitney hit a .245 over 17 seasons, accumulating 1,171 hits.

After his one season in the Evangeline League, Whitney stayed on the bench for one more season, managing the Youngstown Browns of the Middle Atlantic League to a 62-62 record.

In his six seasons as a minor league manager, Whitney compiled am overall record of 433-378.

Whitney passed away in 1994.