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 Strohm

Today, Woody Fair

Strohm, a right-handed hitting infielder/outfielder, who spent six seasons in the Evangeline League, between 1937-1942, with the New Iberia Cardinals.

A native of Turner, Washington, Fair also served as player/manager for New Iberia for the final 31 games of 1942.

A true power hitter, Fair led the Evangeline League with 24 home runs and 125 runs batted in in 1940 and 13 homers and 113 RBI's in 1941.

Overall, Fair hit a .305 with 275 homers and 1,493 RBI's in 7,255 at-bats, covering 1,892 career minor league games.

Fair's best years came as a member of the Carolina League, where he spent six seasons, 1946-1951. In that span he hit a .324 with 123 home runs and 559 RBI's.

Fair passed away in 2000.

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