Remembering The Evangeline League: Sid Gautreaux

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 Alfred "Chubby" Dean

Today, Sid Gautreaux

Gautreaux, a switch-hitting catcher, spent two seasons in the Evangeline League, before going on to spend parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball.

In 1934 with the Jeanerette Blues, Gautreaux hit a .315 with 7 home runs, before following that up with a .320 average, along with 16 long balls in 1935, also with the Blues.

At age 24 in 1936, Gautreaux made it into Major League Baseball, appearing in 75 games with the Brooklyn Dodgers, all as a catcher, while hitting a .268 with 16 runs driven in.

In 1937, Gautreaux hit a .100 over just 10 at-bats, before his short 2-year stint in MLB came to an end.

A native of Schriever, Louisiana, Gautreaux appeared in 86 games in MLB, hitting a .247 with 18 RBI's.

A long-time player and minor league manager, Gautreaux appeared in over 1,500 minor league games hitting at a .291 clip with 80 home runs.

Gautreaux passed away in 1980 in Morgan City.