Where have you gone, Delino DeShields? Seven years ago, Delino DeShields was released by the Chicago Cubs, ending a 13-year, 5-team journey through Major League Baseball during which he earned almost $29 million. He's now the hitting coach for the Billings Mustangs in the rookie-level Pioneer League, making as much money for the season as he used to make per game. The Washington Post goes to Montana to find out why. [more inside]
posted by escabeche on Jul 13, 2009 - 17 comments

Meet Braddish Billings, the first settler in Gloucester Township, and his family, including the famed palentologist Elkanah Billings. Learn about the Bridge Braddish built, and the community that grew around it. Learn about the way the Billings travelled, occupied their free time, got educated, and tons of other stuff. All thanks to the Billings Estate National Historic Site of the City of Ottawa. [more inside]
posted by Monday, stony Monday on Nov 20, 2008 - 6 comments

Fiddler on the prairie. The story of a 1970s high school production of Fiddler on the Roof. The school was in Billings, Montana.
posted by joseph_elmhurst on Oct 11, 2007 - 10 comments

In 1993, a series of racist incidents plagued Billings, Montana. When a brick was thrown through 5 year old Issac Schnitzer's menorah-decorated window, the predominantly non-Jewish city responded in a remarkable way: the local paper printed thousands of menorahs, and people displayed them in their windows as a gesture of solidarity. Since then, the story has inspired a book, a play, a song and a movement.
posted by Biblio on Dec 23, 2005 - 29 comments