Swannanoa Stories: Cliff Melton

In a recent newsletter issue, we ran a story about the Swannanoa Valley’s baseball history, including a mention of Sammy Stewart, who graduated from Swannanoa High School and was known as the “Throwin’ Swannanoan” during his storied major league career with the Orioles and Red Sox.  After reading that story, Mary Standaert wrote in to tell us about yet another Swannanoa Valley ball player who made it to the major leagues.  Cliff Melton was a rookie pitching sensation for the New York Giants in 1937, and went on to pitch for 8 years in the majors.  Melton played on the 1929 Black Mountain High School baseball team that went to the state playoffs.  If you’d like to read more about Cliff Melton and his baseball career, please click here.