Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-21
THEY WILL
TRY IT AGAIN
BASEBALL ENTHUSIASTS NOT
DISCOURAGED BY LAST DIS
AsTRoUS SEASON.
PLANS MATURING FOR
ALEAGUE NEXT YEAR.
Effort Will Be Made to Embrace Port
land, Tacoma, Seattle and Spo-
kane in the League.

Plans are maturing for a league base
ball season next year and notwithstand-
ing the disastrous closing of the season
last fall which most people thought
sounded the death knell OF league base
ball in Montana for a long time to come,
there is good prospect that next year
will see better league bah than has ever
been seen in the state.
Jim Powell, the veteran player and
manager. is now in the city in the in
terest of a new league to be formed for
next season. He said today that he felt
confident league would be organized
for next season which will afford the
lovers of the national game better bail
next year than they have ever seen in
the western country
Th new scheme is being promoted by
w. H. Lucas. president of the Montana
league last season, and Mr.. Powell. 1t
contemplates the organization Of
league embracing the cities OF Portland.
Ore. Tacoma, Seattle and Spokane,
Wash. and Butte and Helena in Mon
tana. If the scheme carries an inter-
state league will be organized and six
of the best teams that ever played ball
in the northwest will be put IN the field.
Heretofore, such a league as is con-
templated, has been considered as not
feasible for the reason that it has al
ways been figured that railroad fares
would eat up so great a proportion of
the receipts that there would be moth
ing left to pay players and pay the On
dinary running expenses Of the teams
but according to the plans as now
mapped out, railroad fares will not cut
much of a figure for the reason that the
Montana team will only make the jump
to the coast once during the entire sea-
son.
The plan is figured on the basis of a
three months season. Butte and Helena
would open the season at home With two
of the coast teams. They would play
a week each and then the team playing
in Butte would go to Helena and the
team playing the first week in Helena
would come to Butte.
The following week the two coast
teams would return to the coast and
the two other teams from the coast
would come to Montana. They would
put in two more weeks and return and
then the two Montana teams would put
in two weeks. That would make six
weeks altogether and then the Montana
teams would go to the coast.
The plan would give but six weeks OF
baseball in Montana but eastern ball
teams play every Gay and there is no
reason why ball players cannot do the
same thing in Montana. In fact if the
teams of the last season had played
every Gay instead of four times week
there is little doubt that the class of ball
| would have been greatly improved as the
! players would not have had time to fol-
low their inclination to sport which un-
| fitted them for their work as ball play
ers The present plan is to play six
| games week which would afford the
/ players one day week rest and yet give
! both Butte and Helena the same num-
] ber of games they had last season.
Mr.. Powell figures that the six cities
mentioned being all good sized cities
and noted for being good ball towns,
would enable them to pay larger salaries
| and therefore insure the securing OF
better players and therefore better base
! ball and while the season would be short
| here, it would give Montana the best
| part of the baseball weather of the
| summer and this with the high clas:
teams, ought to insure a profitable sea.
son.