Angels in the Ozarks: Professional Baseball in Fayetteville and the Arkansas State / Arkansas-missouri League 1934-1940

In the summer of 1940, after a rocky six and one half-year run, professional baseball died in Fayetteville.

And it has never returned. "Angels in the Ozarks" tells the story of a nearly forgotten Class D minor league once described as the "smallest league that ever functioned in organized baseball." Looking back, there's a poignancy about the old Arkansas-Missouri League and the Fayetteville Angels having faded into a virtual black hole of obscurity. The raucous, rowdy sounds of wood on horsehide, of called strikes and balls and outs, of joyous shouts of victory and unhappy cries of defeat, these are now no more than a faint?almost lost?echo, barely floating somewhere in the ether of forgotten history. ?Few people are still vertical who remember the Arkansas State and Arkansas/Missouri leagues. That is now changing due to the diligent efforts of Jerry Hogan who would not let that era pass into oblivion. For nearly a decade, he scoured the pages of time-worn documents, talked with scores people and searched grainy microfilm reels to bring a golden era in baseball to life for generations to come. Great job, Mr. Hogan. ? ~ John Hall, baseball historian and researcher, author of Majoring in the Minors, The KOM League Remembered and Mickey Mantle: Before the Glory, and former batboy for the Carthage (Mo.) Cubs