Remembering The Evangeline League: Terry Fox

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 Dave Gerard

Today, Terry Fox

Fox, a right-handed pitcher, played two seasons in the Evangeline League, spending the 1954 and 1955 seasons with the New Iberia Pelicans, before going on to pitch in parts of seven seasons in Major League Baseball.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Fox started his career in 1954 with the Pelicans, going 13-4 with a 3.39 ERA that year, followed with a 21-12, 2.95 campaign in 1955.

The 21 wins Fox achieved in 1955 tied for the league lead.

Five years later, at the age of 24, Fox got a shot in Major League Baseball, getting called up by the Milwaukee Braves.

In just 5 games, Fox was 0-0 with a 4.32 ERA.

The following season, in 1961, Fox was acquired by the Detroit Tigers, where he became a fixture in the bullpen, going 26-17, along with 55 saves and a 2.77 ERA in five-and-a-half years.

Fox finished out his career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1966.

In parts of seven MLB seasons, Fox accumulated an overall record of 29-19, to go along with 59 saves and a 2.99 ERA.

Gerard passed away in Newtown, Pennsylvania in 2001, at the age of 65.