The Ronan pioneer., 1917-07-20
MAY MEAN STATE
LEAGUE BASEBALL
NORTHWESTERN LEAGUE GIVES
UP THE GHOST BEFORE
END OF SEASON.
Seattle, With 100000 Population,
Fails to Give Its Team Support,
While Great Falls, With $4,000
People, More Than Breaks Even;
Dugdale Is Blamed.

The Northwestern baseball league,
in which Butte and Great Falls hold
franchises, has given up the ghost in
the middle of the season, on account
of lack of patronage of the game in
the larger cities on the Pacific coast.
The support accorded the sport by
the Montana towns has been insuffi-
cient to pay expenses, and better. 1t
is possible that state league will be
organized next year. D. 10. Dugdale,
owner of the Seattle team, is very
much in disfavor with the Montana
baseball magnates, and they assert
they will not consider going back in
to the Northwestern until such time
as Dugdale's control of Seattle is
eliminated.
This is the attitude of the directors
of the Montana clubs. w. r. Davey,
president of the Butte club, returned
from the league meeting held in Sc
attic, and S. r. Jensen, who appeared
for the Great Falls club, went back
to the Electric city. Davey and Jen-
sen came back with about the same
ideas of what other towns in the cir
cult were trying to do to Montana.
Dugdale Unpopular.
D. e. Dugdale told the directors
the Seattle club had lost $4,000, and
the stockholders would not put up
more money. Dugdale is 80 per cent
of the corporation, so he meant he
wanted to throw up the sponge. 1t
isn't the war or rain or any other cir
cumstance that is keeping people
away from Dugdale park in the larg-
est city on the circuit, for Dugdale
has SO thoroughly disgusted a city of
1000 people that 200 make good
week day crowd. The fans have vir-
tually boycotted Dugdale, and if the
kaiser surrendered tomorrow and the
war stopped, the customers in Seattle
would remain away just the same,
| Seattle, which should be the bulwark
of the league, has thrown Dugdale
down and before the Montana towns
dicker with the Northwestern league
again they are going to have assur-
ance that conditions are favorable in
| Seattle.
Not Quitter.
Davey and Jensen learned that
Dugdale had things all figured out
when they got there. Bob Brown ad-
mitted he could not carry the burden
longer and everybody agreed with the
game Vancouver magnate that he
had made courageous fight and that
he wasn't gutter. f. C.. Farr,
owner of the Spokane club, got on
the fence, and finally Dugdale got
him to come over on his side, and the
vote stood four to two. Russ Hall
made hard fight to get Farr to re-
main, so he could transfer to Billings
ger franchise and team for the sea-
son.
But Dugdale. who can't make base
ball go in city of 100000 people
while Great Falls, a city of 5000
is breaking even on the sport, want
ed to quit, and he made the league
disband And he blamed it onto the
war and the weather.
Some Transfer Talk.
Efforts are being made to get the
Spokane club transferred to some
other Montana town, so there can be
four clubs, for Russ Hall has not CIV
GIL up Hope VI CdhlHS tHe IiSefS 10
Billings. "Billy" Gemmell and sew
eral other sports said they were will
ing to go to Lewistown and Helena
and seek support for tither the Van
couver club or the Spokane Indians in
a switch of the teams for the balance
Of the season These good sportsmen
are wondering what Seattle, which
boasts of being the greatest city on
the northwestern coast, will do if
little, lively, sporty Lewitsown gets
down real money to take North
western league club and carries it
through the season.