Background
He was born in Grantville, Kansas.
He was born in Grantville, Kansas.
Listed at 5 ft 11 in (180 m), 165 pounds, Billings batted and threw right-handed. Before playing professional baseball, Billings was a star player at Kansas State University (1910) and Oklahoma State University (1911-1912). Billings played from 1913 to 1918 for the Cleveland Naps (renamed the Indians in 1915).
In 1919, he was traded to the Saint Louis Browns in exchange for Les Nunamaker.
In Saint Louis he received considerably more playing time than he had in Cleveland. His most productive season came in 1920, when he posted career-numbers in batting average (277), runs (19) and Reserve Bank of India (11), while matching a career-high 66 games played and finishing seventh in the American League in hit by pitches (7).
He was a career.217 hitter in 243 games. In 1943 Billings managed the Kenosha Comets, one of the four original teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and led his team to the playoffs in that season.
Billings died in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 89.