Fayetteville Angels (Arkansas baseball)

The Fayetteville "Angels" played from 1937 to 1940 and were a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Browns in 1939 and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1940.

Fayetteville teams played as members of the Class D level Arkansas State League in 1934 and 1935.

The Fayetteville teams hosted minor league home games at the Fairgrounds Park through 1940.

[2] The Bentonville Officeholders, Rogers Rustlers and Siloam Springs Buffaloes teams joined Fayetteville in beginning league play on May 7, 1934.

[4][5] In the first minor league game in franchise history, the Fayetteville Educators lost their home opener to Siloam Springs by the score of 9–7.

[7] Formerly the athletic director at University High School in Fayetteville, Shaw left the team in July 1935 after side effects of a previous appendicitis ended his career as a player.

[11][12] Parker Rushing of Fayetteville led the Arkansas State League with 96 hits in the shortened season.

[11] Parker Rushing was a student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and retired after two seasons of professional baseball.

[21][22] Fayetteville player/manager John Lyle "Pete" Casey was a native of neighboring Bentonville, Arkansas.

[23][24] In his only professional baseball season, Elmer Honea played in 117 games for Fayetteville in 1935 with positive results, hitting a grand slam in his very first at bat.

[25] At age 20, the Fayetteville native hit .285 with 20 home runs and 86 RBI in his lone professional season.

[28] Honea was a graduate of Fayetteville High School and wore #24 while playing basketball for the University of Arkansas.

[11][30] The Bentonville Mustangs, Cassville Blues, Rogers Lions, Monett Red Birds and Siloam Springs Travelers teams joined Fayetteville in beginning Arkansas-Missouri League play on May 7, 1936.

Fayetteville finished 22.0 games behind first place Silom Springs in the final regular season standings.

[41] Local journalist and newspaper writer Walter John Lemke wrote a column called "Angel Food" in the Northwest Arkansas Times.

[48] Cliff Knox served as the Fayetteville manager as the Angels ended the season 9.0 games behind the first place Neosho Yankees.

In the first round of the four-team playoffs, the Carthage Pirates defeated Fayetteville 3 games to 1 enroute to winning the league championship.

[51] After his final minor league season, Knox returned to his farm in rural Oskaloosa, Iowa.

[52][53] The Angels won the pennant, ending the regular season with a record of 79–42, playing under manager Frank Oceak.

In the playoff final, Carthage won the Arkansas–Missouri League championship, defeating Fayetteville, 4 games to 1.

[56] Oceak came to Fayetteville at age 26 after having served as a player/manger in 1938 with the Lafayette White Sox of the Class D level Evangeline League.

After leaving Fayetteville he became the manager of the Beaver Falls Browns of the Class D Pennsylvania State Association in 1940.

There Oceak was suspended by Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis for the entire 1941 season after he had an assault on an umpire.

On June 6, 1940, he assaulted umpire Len Burgher and was suspended by the league for 90 days and fined, a ruling that was extended by Landis.

[62] In the shortened season, the Fayetteville Angels were an Brooklyn Dodgers affiliate managed by Ducky Holmes and Herb Fash.

Holmes had previously served as the owner and manager of the Dayton Ducks of the Middle Atlantic League from 1932 to 1938.

[66] After the team stopped play during World War II, Holmes ran a grocery store in Dayton before passing away in 1945.

On January 21, 1945, fifty-two sailors, including Herb Fash, were killed in an explosion on their vessel at sea.

[74][75] The Fayetteville minor league teams hosted home games at the Fairgrounds Park.

[77] Today, the location of the Fairgrounds Park ballpark is on the campus of the University of Arkansas, serving as a sports complex for student recreation.