Remembering The Evangeline League: Ivy Griffin

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 Terry Fox

Today, Ivy Griffin

Griffin, a left-handed hitting first baseman, who played three seasons in Major League Baseball, managed one year in the Evangeline League, guiding the Jeanerette Blues in 1935.

A native of Thomasville, Alabama, Griffin was the head man in the dugout for Jeanerette in 1935, his first year as a manager, when the Blues went 86-42, and went on to win the league title.

As a player in the minor leagues, Griffin collected 2,821 hits between 1919 and 1942, batting a .320, to go along  with 416 doubles and 189 stolen bases.

As a player in Major League Baseball, Griffin played three seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies, hitting a .257 with 39 runs batted in.

As a manager, Griffin won four league championships in 13 years.

Following his time as a manager, Griffin became a scout, working for the Chicago Cubs from 1953-1957.

Griffin died in an automobile accident in Georgia in 1957.