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EDDIE COLLINS

Program
NYS Historic
Subject
People
Location
51 Main St, Millerton, NY 12546, USA
Lat/Long
41.9538, -73.5093
Grant Recipient
Arlington High School
Historic Marker

EDDIE COLLINS

Inscription

EDDIE COLLINS
1887-1951. BORN IN MILLERTON.
SIX WORLD SERIES TITLES AND
3,000-HIT CLUB AS MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL PLAYER. BASEBALL
HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE 1939.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2024

Born in Millerton, New York, Eddie Collins is regarded as one of—if not the—greatest second basemen in Major League Baseball history. A storied base stealer and a member of the 3,000-hit club with six world titles to his name, Collins has secured himself a spot in sports history.

It all started, however, in Millerton, where he was born in 1887. Though a small hamlet, Millerton would leave its mark on baseball history thanks to Collins.

Collins’ biographer Rick Huhn notes that the Millerton Inn, where this marker is located, is likely the site of Collins birth as his grandparents were running it as an inn at the time. In “Eddie Collins: A Baseball Biography,” published in 2008, Huhn writes:

…Mary Trowbridge Collins found herself at the Simmons house [earlier name of the Millerton Inn], home of her mother Sarah and her step-father E.W. She was in the late stages of pregnancy. Whether Mary came to the house merely to visit her family or with the specific intent to seek their assistance and shelter in giving birth is unknown. What is known is that on May 2, 1887, while at her parents’ home, she gave birth to a son, Edward Trowbridge Collins. (pg.3)

According to his obituary published in the New York Times on March 26th, 1951, Collins would go on to play baseball at Irving School in Tarrytown, then made the Columbia Varsity team as a freshman. Though he would be on the roster and receive a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia, he would never play for the University as he was already playing in the Major Leagues at that time. In 1906, Collins had joined the Athletics, which made him ineligible to play for the University of Columbia.

This began a remarkable career, that would see Collins establish himself as a premier baseball player. In his obituary, the sums of that career are laid out in full:

His lifetime batting average, spanning a quarter of a century, was .333. Collins’ best campaign was 1911, when he hit .365 in 132 games. He almost equaled that mark in 1923, attaining .360 in 145 contests while with the White Sox. Besides the four world series in which he played for the Athletics, Collins participated in two others, with the White Six—in 1917 and 1919.

In 1926, Collins joined the 3,000-hit club, placing him in an elite class. To that date, only six others had managed to join the 3,000-hit club, and it wasn’t until the 1940s that another player would reach the milestone. He was also elected to the sport’s hall of fame in 1939.

This historical marker commemorating the Millerton hometown hero came about thanks to an application submitted by students of the nearby Arlington Highschool. Led by teacher Robert McHugh, students gathered primary sources and successfully submitted a grant through the Pomeroy Foundation, securing funding for the historical marker now in place at the Millerton Inn remembering the community’s connection to the revered player.

For more information about Eddie Collins, visit:


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