Jeanerette Blues

The Jeanerette Blues, based in Jeanerette, Louisiana, represented a small sugar cane town in Iberia Parish and were among the early stars of the Evangeline League. Jeanerette's connection to the circuit goes back to 1934: when fire destroyed the Lake Charles grandstand that first season and forced that franchise to relocate mid-year, Jeanerette stepped in as the host. A permanent Blues franchise then operated from 1935 through 1939.

Their best season was 1935, when the Blues went 86-42 under manager Ivy Griffin, swept the Opelousas Indians in the semifinals, and beat the Lafayette White Sox four games to two in the finals for the Evangeline League championship. They reached the finals again in 1936, losing to the Alexandria Aces.

The Blues were also at the center of one of the circuit's more colorful incidents. On July 16, 1939, Jeanerette traveled to Rayne for a doubleheader against the Rice Birds. After a disputed 8-4 loss, irate Rayne fans rushed the umpires, leaving one official struck by a flying pop bottle and the other hit from behind with a baseball bat. It was, by the standards of the Tabasco Circuit, a fairly routine evening. The Blues did not return when the league resumed in 1946.

The Evangeline League was a Class D minor league (Class C from 1949) that operated primarily in southern and central Louisiana from 1934 through 1957, with a wartime pause from 1943 through 1945. Named for the Acadian folk heroine of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1847 epic poem, the league was nicknamed the "Pepper Sauce League" or the "Tabasco Circuit" by fans and sportswriters, a nod to the Cajun country setting and the volatile brand of baseball played there.