Felix Evans Jr. (October 3, 1910 – August 21, 1993), nicknamed "Chin", was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

. Known for his

curveball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curve ...

, Evans played from 1934 to 1949 with several teams, most prominently for the

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the la ...

Career

Evans was born on October 3, 1910, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, and attended Booker T. Washington High School. After dropping out of school in ninth grade, he began a professional baseball career with the Atlanta Athletics in 1934. Evans, a right-handed pitcher, primarily utilized a curveball, that some of his teammates referred to as a "mountain drop," which he threw at three different speeds. He moved to the

Atlanta Black Crackers The Atlanta Black Crackers (originally known as the Atlanta Cubs and later briefly the Indianapolis ABCs) were a professional Negro league baseball team which played during the early to mid-20th century. They were primarily a minor Negro league ...

in 1935. Evans returned to high school in 1936 at age 25 and earned all-state honors as a football player. Evans appeared in at least two documented games for the Black Crackers in 1937. That winter, he played for

Habana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

in the

Cuban League The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known a ...

, losing five of the six games he pitched. By 1938, he began playing

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

, seeing time as a halfback and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

from 1938 through the 1941 season. He returned to the Black Crackers, know a member of the

Negro American League The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and disbanded after its 1962 season. Negro American League franchises :''An ...

, for the 1938 season, but was released when he could not travel with the club. Evans joined the

Jacksonville Red Caps The Jacksonville Red Caps were a Negro league baseball team based primarily in Jacksonville, Florida. They played the Negro American League from 1938 until 1942. History The team was based in Jacksonville, Florida playing at Durkee Field in 19 ...

and amassed a winning streak, before Atlanta reacquired him a month later. He pitched one game in a league championship series against the pennant-winning

in a losing effort. The series was canceled after a disagreement between the two clubs, with Memphis winning both games up to that point. Evans remained with the Black Crackers in 1939, appearing in at least four documented games, before the club moved to

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

and operated under the name Indianapolis ABCs for the remainder of the season. He was sold to the

Baltimore Elite Giants The Baltimore Elite Giants were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues from to . The team was established by Tom Wilson (Negro baseball), Thomas T. Wilson, in Nashville, Tennessee as the semi-pro Nash ...

that July, before being released a week later and singing with the

Newark Eagles The Newark Eagles were a professional Negro league baseball team which played in the Negro National League from 1936 to 1948. They were owned by Abe and Effa Manley. History Formation The Newark Eagles were formed in 1936 when the Newark Dodge ...

. He ended the year with the

Ethiopian Clowns The Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League. Tracing their origins back to the 1930s, the Clowns were the last of the Negro league teams to disband, continuing to play exhibition games into the 1980s. The ...

, and remained with the Clowns in 1940. While with the Clowns, Evans appeared under the name "Kalihari" as part of the team's gimmick of using African nicknames for players. He jonied the Memphis Red Sox that season. Evans opened the 1941 season with the Black Crackers, before returning to Memphis to appear in at least two games for the Red Sox that year. Evans continued pitching for Memphis until 1948, but did return to the Black Crackers for a time in 1943. His most productive season came in 1946 while playing for the Red Sox, posting a 15–1 record prior to the

East–West All-Star Game The East–West All-Star Game was an annual all-star game for Negro league baseball players. The game was the brainchild of Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1933 he decided to emulate the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, usi ...

break and started the game for the West All Star team.Felix 'Chin' Evans Biography
''NLBPA Archives''. Retrieved on December 14, 2018. Evans allowed one hit in three innings and was the winning pitcher in a 4–1 victory for the West. Evans started the 1949 season with the Red Sox before being signed by the

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with the white Birmingham Barons, usually drawing larger crowds and equal pres ...

in June, in what would be his final season. Despite primarily working as a pitcher during his career, he also appeared in games in all three

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball and ...

positions, as well as

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Felix 1910 births 1993 deaths Morehouse College alumni Atlanta Black Crackers players Baltimore Elite Giants players Birmingham Black Barons players Ethiopian Clowns players Habana players Jacksonville Red Caps players Memphis Red Sox players Newark Eagles players Baseball players from Atlanta 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball pitchers