Remembering The Evangeline League: Harry Nolan

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 Harry Elliott.

Today, Harry Nolan

Nolan was a right-handed hitting first baseman, who played two seasons in the Evangeline League, spending 1934 with the Rayne Red Sox, before spending 1935 with the Rayne Rice Birds.

Although he only spent a short time in the Evangeline League, and a short time in professional baseball, Nolan had an immediate impact, hitting a .338, while crushing 25 home runs and driving in 101 runs in 1934, the first year of the Evangeline League.

Nolan battled injuries in 1935, but still managed to hit a .325 in 240-at bats.

1935 proved to be the final professional season for Nolan, who ended his short two-year stint a lifetime .333 hitter, to go along with 29 homers and 159 RBI's.