It was a partly cloudy day in Philadelphia on April 29th, 1904, when Stephen Millington picked up the ball on the mount of Boeselager Stadium. For most, it was the 25th game of the season. So far, it was a good season. Sixteen wins and eight losses ensured the division lead. The offense was explosive, and the pitching unusually reliable.
But for Stephen “Whitey” Millington, it was a special day. It was his 300th start as a Brewer. He inspected the ball and then looked at the familiar ballpark and the nearly 8,000 people attending the game. Did he remember the day he signed with Philadelphia just a few weeks after his 21st birthday? A new adventure would begin and he could finally leave Colorado Springs. His father, John Millington, was part of a survey party for the Kansas Pacific Railway that founded the Fountain Colony in Colorado in 1871.
Shortly after, he married a prostitute who gave birth to Stephen in 1873. It turned out that Milly Millington was a very intelligent woman, and she became a teacher at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. While she educated young children, little Stephen would throw rocks against the school’s garden shed, which constantly got him into trouble. In a baseball game between two schools, Karl Boeselager, who personally delivered beer to the city’s renowned Antlers Hotel, discovered Millington’s talent and invited him to Philadelphia for try-outs. In September 1894, the Boeselager brothers personally talked to Millington and asked him to throw 150 pitches against the wooden doors to their brewery’s garage.
Or did he remember March 31st, 1927, when he tore his labrum and missed the rest of the season? Did he remember the three Legacy Cups he won, or did Millington remember the years when he became the EL Pitcher of the Year (1896, 1898), Legacy Cup Champion (1895, 1896, 1898), or League Cup MVP (1896, 1899)? Did he realize that he hasn’t won a postseason game in over four years?
Nobody knew and it didn’t matter. Charles Ayscue, his teammate since 1898, nodded at him to throw the pitch. Baltimore’s Seymour Springthorpe fouled off and later grounded out. It was the first of 27 outs for Stephen Millington on that day. And when Moriarty Stapleton picked up Frank Ridder’s groundball and tossed it to Alfred Gilling to throw out Dusty Chatterton, all Philadelphia players and staff ran on the field to congratulate Millington. His seventh win of the season was also his 160th career regular season win.
But his 300th start and his 160th win weren’t the only good news. After yesterday’s last game, the Legacy Baseball League telegraphed that Millington also became the Eastern League’s Pitcher of the Month. The last time this honor belonged to him was in May 1902.
“The past few days felt good to me. There has been a lot of criticism, but I’m glad I can prove everyone better,” a delighted Millington told us on the way out of the clubhouse. “All these numbers are and feel nice, but it’s important that we keep the momentum up and the Richmond Rifles down.”