Remembering The Evangeline League: Carlos Moore

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 Elias Calvin "Liz" Funk

Today, Carlos Moore

Moore, a right-handed pitcher, who played one season in Major League Baseball, managed four years in the Evangeline League, guiding the Opelousas Indians (1936), Jeanerette Blues (1937), Abbeville Athletics (1939), and Houma Buccaneers/Natchez Pilgrims (1940).

A native of Clinton, Tennessee, Moore was the head man in the dugout for Opelousas in 1936 , when the Indians went 89-48, finishing second during the regular season, before falling in the league finals to the Alexandria Aces.

As a player in the minor leagues, Moore compiled an overall record of 87-103, to go along with an ERA. of 3.72, over ten years.

As a player in Major League Baseball, Moore appeared in four games for the Washington Senators in 1930, allowing 9 hits and 3 runs in 11.2 innings pitched.

As a manager, Funk went 267-272 in four seasons in the Evangeline League.

Moore passed away in New Orleans in 1958.

He is buried in Opelousas.