The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-07-28
HELENA vs.. BILLINGS
Champions from the Capital Will
Tackle the Magic City for
Two Games.
BOTH TEAMS STRONG
And Bringing New Men from Butte.
The Home Boys Confident
Of Victory.

The Billings baseball team is all
ready for the games with the cham
pions from Helena tomorrow and Sun
day and much interest is manifested in
the contests. Manager Nix realizes
that his team is going against the real
thing when it tackles Helena, but says
that he is not afraid of the outcome.
The players of the Billings team. too,
are confident, although they also re.
alize they must play good ball to win.
They say they are going to take both
games from the visitors.
! Both teams are strengthening them
selves for the games. The Helena club
will bring along St. Varin, a Butte
pitcher. and it is said has secured other
new players for the Billings series,
which shows that the Helenaites are
not figuring on walkover. They are
bringing along the very best men they
can get and if Billings wins she will
have the honor Of beating the best ball
players that can be gotten together in
one team in the state. The home team
has been strengthened by the addition
Of MoNeeley and Flannery, who ar
rived from Butte this morning. The
former is the pitcher who won the
game against Helena two weeks ago by
score Of 7 to /, but was knocked out
Of the box at Butte last Sunday by the
Butte & Boston team. That was on
account Of him getting poor support in
! the field, however, and all good pitch
ers occasionally have an off day. Hell
ena was trying to secure him for the
Billings games, but Manager Nix "saw
him tirst.'' McNeeley thinks he can
hold Helena down to seven or eight
hits, anyhow, and if he does that Bill
ings is almost sure to win. Flannery,
the other Butte man, will play third
base. He lives in Butte and is said to
be one Of the best all-around players In
the state. The lineup Of the Billings
team will probably read like this, but
the batting order has not yet been ar
ranged:
Hines. catcher.
MoNeeley and Harker, pitchers.
Harrity, first base.
Rose. second base.
Flannery, third base.
Smith, short-stop.
Scott, left field.
freeman. center field.
Wells, right field.
Taylor, Sheehan, Calhoun, substi.
tutes.
The games will be called promptly
at 8 80 each afternoon and the attend
ance will be large. Everybody is
pulling" for Billings to win, but the
people who understand baseball realize
that the Helena boys have had the most
practice. They have only lost three
games during the season, but, like the
Billings team. they have been playing
weak clubs with the exception of
Butte, to whom Helena has dropped
three games. The visitors will arrive
in the morning and will be accom-
panied by crowd of sports and root
ers. The former will back their fa-
vorites with their money, too, and will
probably give odds Of about to !. or
at least 8 to 2. Billings sports will
likely accommodate the visitors who
want to bet at these figures, but do not
feel like laying even money. The
games are going to be the most hotly
contested ever played in Billings and
the enthusiasm is at high pitch.
Bozeman Chronicle: Colonel Sam
Gordon has again met with one Of
those disasters which occasionally over
take him and make life miserable OK.
istence for few months. The Miles
City hall team has again been badly
skinned by an aggregation at Billings. |
Nothing is so painful to the genial col.
onel as this, Defeat from any other
town could be lived down. But even
in this dire calamity he finds one CLEAN
to gloat over. He says that the Bill
ings ball tossers are all hired men and |
that when nightfall comes they have
no place to lay their heads, and are
Obliged to seek shelter wherever they
may find IT, thus aooentuating the fact
that they are strangers in strange
land,
In making out the batting averages
OF the home team, published last Tues
day, Scorer MoFarlin inadvertently
omitted tho name Of Captain Taylor,
whose average was ,a70 In five games
played, That Ia q splendid average for
q pitcher and II IL could be kept up
against strong teams would land any
player In the national league Just for
his stick work,