Evansville Evas

The Evansville Evas was a primary nickname of an early minor league baseball team in Evansville, Indiana. Early Evansville teams played in three leagues under a variety of nicknames from 1901–1931. Evansville was without a team until the 1938 Evansville Bees restarted Evansville baseball. Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees Hank Greenberg (1931) and Chuck Klein (1927) and Edd Roush (1912–1913) played for Evansville during the early era, joining Warren Spahn as Evansville alumni in the Hall of Fame. Beginning in 1915, Evansville played home games at Bosse Field, which is the third oldest baseball stadium in the United States, still in use today by the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League.

History

After early Evansville minor league teams began play in 1887 as the Evansville Red, other teams followed in the late 1800s: Evansville Hoosiers (1889-1892; 1896), Evansville Brewers (1897) and the 1895 Evansville Black Birds of the Southern Association.^[1]

In 1901, the Evansville River Rats began league play in the new Class D Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League (Three-I) as a 1901 charter franchise. Evansville joined the Bloomington Blues, Cedar Rapids Rabbitts, Davenport River Rats, Decatur Commodores, Rock Island Islanders, Rockford Red Sox and Terre Haute Hottentots in the new league.^[2] Bloomington, Illinois, Decatur, Illinois and Terre Haute, Indiana left the Central League to join, while Evansville and the others were new franchised.^[3]

Over the next thirty years, the team shifted names and leagues as the Evansville Hubs (1926-1931), Evansville Evas (1916-1924), Evansville Little Evas (1924), Evansville Pocketeers (1925), Evansville Strikers (1911), Evansville Yankees (1912) and original Evansville River Rats (1913-1917; 1901-1910) took the field in Evansville. The Evansville teams played in the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League (1901-1902; 1919-1931), Central League (1903-1911; 1913-1917) and Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League(1912).^[4]

After beginning in 1901, the Evansville franchise stopped play after the 1931 season during the Great Depression. Evansville was without baseball until the 1938 Evansville Bees returned to Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League play as an affiliate of the Braves/Bees. That era of Evansville baseball ran through 1957.^[5] Today, Evansville has the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League continuing play at Bosse Field.^[6]

The ballparks

Early Evansville teams played at Louisiana Street Park through 1914. The park was located at E. Louisiana Street and Read Avenue.^[7]

Beginning in 1915, Evansville played at Bosse Field, located at 1701 Main Street & Morgan Street.^[8] The noteworthy Bosse Field is still an active park today, serving as home to the Evansville Otters in the independent Frontier League.^[9] Behind MLB's Fenway Park (1912) and Wrigley Field (1914), Memorial Stadium is the third oldest baseball park in the US, playing the first game on June 17, 1915.^[10]

Notable alumni

• Hank Greenberg (1931) 5 x MLB AS; 2 × AL MVP (1935, 1940); 4 × AL home run leader (1935, 1938, 1940, 1946); 4 × AL RBI leader (1935, 1937, 1940, 1946); Baseball Hall of Fame (1956)
• Whit Wyatt (1928-1929) 4 x MLB AS; 1941 NL wins leader
• Gee Walker MLB AS (1928, 1930)
• Chuck Klein (1927) 2 x MLB AS; 1932 NL MVP; 1933 Triple Crown; NL stolen base leader (1932): 1933 NL batting champion; 4 × NL home run leader (1929, 1931–1933); 2 × NL RBI leader (1931, 1933); 1932 NL MVP; Baseball Hall of Fame (1980)
• Oscar Stanage (1926) MLB Fielding Records
• Pete Fox (1930) MLB AS
• Tommy Bridges (1930) 6 x MLB AS; 1936 AL wins leader; 2 × AL strikeout leader (1935, 1936)
• Edd Roush (1912-1913) 2 × NL batting champion (1917, 1919); Baseball Hall of Fame (1962)
• Jimmy Ryan (1906) 1888 NL HR Leader
• Abner Dalrymple (1895) 1878 NL Batting Champion; 1885 NL Home Run Leader

References