Getting to the American Legion Baseball World Series is no easy task—one that few players ever get to experience.
Bob Fry and Pete Cochran played in it two times for Billings Post #4—Billings' lone team before it became the Scarlets and the Royals in the 1970s.
“It was an exciting and fun time,” says Cochran.
“It’s an amazing experience,” says Fry.
An experience that more than six decades later remains etched in their memories.
“I remember one of the neatest things was the first time I ever got a plane ride was when we got sent down there so it was totally a unique deal,” Cochran says.
It was an amazing time for American Legion Baseball in Billings. Post #4 would make it to the Legion World Series four times in 1958, 1960, 1961, and 1962 under legendary coach Eddie Bayne.
“He was a commander of getting things done right and we played real well that way,” Cochran says.
Legion Baseball had the attention of the town back in those days.
“The attendance for the legion games was almost a full house every time we played. You go to a Mustangs game and there might be 200 people there. People were just so behind the Legion team,” says Fry.
“I don’t know how many hundreds of them came to the games down there and rooted us on. That was a big part of why we were probably as good as we were is because of the support we got from the community,” says Cochran.
Fry remembers many of the teams they faced weren’t expecting much from a team from Montana, but they quickly found out otherwise.
“They looked beyond Billings as a team to beat so it is even sweeter when you send them packing and we did that a lot in my days. We sent a lot of good teams packing,” says Fry.
The 1960 team, which also featured future major league pitcher Dave McNally, would get all the way to the championship game before falling to New Orleans—a game both former players admit still smarts a bit.
“I guess we as a team thought we could always go to the World Series we always thought that we had the talent. McNally wasn’t the only one. We were strong at every position,” Fry says.
Fry later played college ball at Washington State, where he still holds the record for stealing four bases in one game. And Cochran would play professionally in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.
Both say they have fond memories of their time playing Legion baseball in Billings and are cheering hard for the Scarlets to bring home the championship.
“I hope they take advantage and pay attention to everything going on about it because it is a memory you may never have again and they should be proud of themselves,” Fry says.
