The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-02-16
The Union Association
IA General Review

4 x0OOS101xOx1
Review.
I ing Editor Of the Butte Miner.
balls and is very fast on his feet and
possesses good judgment. AS to his
arm, that is something / am in doubt
about, for l have never seen him that
l remember of, playing much outfield.
If his peg develops, he is probably as
good as placed, as I think Blanken-
ship fayors him on the whole. O'Hare
and Huffman are unknown quantities
as far as l am concerned, 1 will be
frank to say.
The other Clubs.
Without going into too much detail,
the other clubs all loom up stronger
this season with the exception of
Great Falls and Helena. Hester
weakened his team ir%reparably when
he allowed Misse and Murphy to go
for Weaver. Just what caused him to
make the deal, l cannot say, but prob
ably he was by some reason forced to
it, for I hardly think Hester would be
so foolish as to trade such men as
Murphy and Misse for Weaver.
1t is possible that Hester is ham
pered for lack. of funds. as both Muir
ply n Misse are or should be high
salaried men for this "~~ot
Falls undoubtedly was running too
expensive a club for the support it
was receiving and it is Undoubtedly
the plan this season to cut down ex-
penses as much as possible and still
retain a club equal t o the others of
the league.
With all u respect to Buck, who
was a grand catcher before sickness
overcame him. he is hardly a valuable
right now. Last season when
he played he showed himself a wise
old head and a valuable man in his
fully half the time through sickness,
and that makes it a for any team,
especially the pitchers. 1t is hoped
that Weaver will be stronger this
year, but McCloskey, in securing
Misse and Murphy, as it is claimed he
did, and he at least got one Of them,
strengthened the Salt Lake team won
derfully, to Great Falls loss.
Helena Was Generous.
What possessed Maurice Weiss to
give away all the Helena players of
any consequence at the end of last
season., is another of the mysteries of
the league mentioned a while back
He let a majority of the team go out
right, saving nothing for the posi-
bility Of a team in the league this
year and Danny Shay will have to
start from the ground up. Unless
Shay is mighty lucky in getting ma
terial on the jump, the Senators will
be in a bad way. Shay is a good man,
though, and when he affixed his sig
nature to a Helena contract the Sen
ators' stock rose considerably.
Salt Lake Strong.
Salt Lake looms UP to my notion as
the most dangerous club in the league
this year and not because my old
friend John McCloskey is at the head
of it. either. Dock Cooley left co
McCloskey a mighty nice little nu-
cleus for a ball club and the old head
has been adding to it right along. He
is the old mysterious John of yore, al
ways having a den Of bears under lock
and key. But he doesn't always rush
into print with them and some of
seldom-turn out to be
tame bruins. But I believe McClos-
key will have the strongest or as
strong a team as there is in the
league. Ogden will probably have a
good team this year, but will miss
McCloskey, for, barring a few play
ers. McCloskey had no team at all last
year, but look what he did with them
when he got out from the respoKsibili-
ties Of paying the bills.
As for Butte.
The Butte team will largely depend
on what of the old material makes
good either by maintaining their last
seasons standing or improving a lot
and also on what new material may
be located. The Butte club is another
one of those mysterious organizations
and as yet there has been nothing
more than an unofficial statement as
t" the leader, who is said to be
Chick" Fraser. well known to the
old-time fans. as he played with the
Chicago n Philadelphia Nationals in
days gone by and last season man
aged the Decatur team in the Three |
league. Butte has several promising
men for his season. including Whal-
ing at first base, who should improve;
Mcclellan, who showed great form
the latter part OF the season, at Sec
ond: Levy at shortstop and buddy,
who was out of the game entirely last
season owing to injuries, at third.
Spike Shannon cannot be headed for
a receiver if he keeps on his good be.
havior and McCafferty's p~re-seaspr
last year. Kafora, should i'm
prove and come back as a good relief |
for Shannon. AS to pitchers, Butte Is
In a bad way and little definite is
known as to who will be on the