County Pitchers Claim Major League No-hitters 

Manchester, H. (1999, September 21). County pitchers claim major league no-hitters. Centre Daily Times, p21.

The Big Spring

Hugh Manchester

I DOUBT WHETHER there is another community in the United States that can lay a claim to fame such as the Bellefonte area can in all of baseball history.

When the Big League game between the Minnesota Twins and the Anaheim Angels ended Sept. 11 in Minneapolis, lightning had struck twice in the same place - figuratively speaking, that is.

Eric Milton, 24, Twins pitcher, had just pitched a no-hitter - only the 264th such time this has happened in baseball history. The final score was Minnesota 7, Anaheim 0.

Milton, a 1993 graduate of Bellefonte Area High School, was born in Bellefonte in 1975 and grew up in Coleville, where his family resided until recently. They now live in Continental Courts, Benner Twonship.

But, what about lightning striking twice in the same place?

Milton's no-hitter is the second time a Big League pitcher from Bellefonte has done this. The first time was on June 17, 1880, when John Montgomery Ward of Bellefonte, pitching for Providence against Buffalo did this. Ward's feat, however, was one better than a no-hitter. In addition to being a no-hitter, it also entered the record books as a perfect game.

In 1964 Ward was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The baseball used in accomplishing Milton's feat was also sent to Cooperstown. It joins other no-hitter baseballs on display there, according to a telephone conversation I had with the research department of the Hall of Fame.

Ward attended the Bellefonte public schools where his mother was a teacher. Milton went through the local school system, kindergarten through grade 12. Their respective pitching feats are 119 years apart.

In the Associated Press and televised news reports, the only local identifying factor in articles on the Sept. 11 game was mention of Milton's association with Bellefonte. It is my good fortune, after a telephone conversation with his parents, Cecil and Barbara Lee Milton, to further localize "the rest or the story."

The pitcher's father is a 1961 Bellefonte Area High School graduate, as is his mother in 1963. Milton's brother Ernest graduated in 1987. Father Cecil and brother Ernest played local baseball.

Before arriving in the Big League, Milton played Little League, Teener League and high school and county baseball locally. Milton played for the Howard Hawks under coaches Curt Heverly and Randy Leathers.

Milton is a southpaw and his baseball days locally were influenced by such coaches as Joe and Frank Menna, Denny Leathers, Don Robinson, Alan Thal and Butch Snyder. In minor league, he played for teams in Tampa, Fla., Norwich, Conn. and Columbus, Ohio.

He pitched for the New York Yankees in 1998. Not long after that, he went to Minneapolis.

Milton missed by one being a member of the American Olympic Baseball Team, the first 25 became part of the team. He was No. 26.

He studied at the University of Maryland. He wed a classmate from that university on Jan. 3, 1998. Their first child is due in March. Kimberly Milton is from Rockville, Md. Recently the Milton's purchased a hone in Fort Myers, Fla.

Thought

Barbara Lee Milton's father was Robert E. Lee, the same name as the famous Confederate general. Any connection?

A relative of Lee's purchased land in Centre County late in the 18th century.

Eric Milton has a no-hitter to his credit. How about being a relation of Lee's?