Jim Creighton - Discovery By The Stars

Discovery By The Stars

In 1859, Creighton and the Niagaras were losing a match to the Star Club of Brooklyn, when Creighton, who had to this point been used primarily in the infield, came into the game as a relief pitcher. Using what was described as a "low, swift delivery", Creighton threw the ball unthinkably hard for the time. With the balls "rising from the ground past the shoulder to the catcher", the Star batsmen were unable to hit them effectively. The Star batsmen claimed that he used an illegal snap of the wrist to deliver the pitch. Creighton called it his "speedball", while he also threw a high-arcing slower pitched called a "dew-drop". At the time, the rules of baseball stated that a pitcher must deliver the ball underhanded, locked straight at the elbow and the wrist. It was the duty of the pitcher to make it easy for the batter to hit the ball; fielding the ball was considered the game's true skill. Although the Star Club prevailed, Creighton became their new member following the game.

Before the 1860 season, Creighton left the Star Club and joined one of the highest-profile clubs in the game at the time, Excelsior of Brooklyn. In 1860, with their new star pitcher, they were becoming a national sensation. The Excelsior Club organized the first known national tour, which the played local teams down the East Coast of the United States. That first season, Creighton scored 47 runs in 20 match games, and was retired just 56 times, not once striking out. On November 8, in a game against the St. George Cricket Club, he recorded baseball's first shutout. In 1862, Creighton became the game's best batter, in addition to his pitching. During that year, he was retired just four times, either as a batter or baserunner.

When observing Creighton pitch a baseball, English Cricketer John Lillywhite commented, "Why, that man is not bowling, he is throwing underhand. It is the best disguised underhand throwing I ever saw, and might readily be taken for a fair delivery." Another observer said that his pitch was "as swift as it was shot out of cannon." Exclesior teammate John Chapman later in his life wrote that Creighton "...had wonderful speed, and, with it, splendid command. He was fairly unhittable." Others, especially the conservative members among the baseball community, complained that not only were his pitched illegal, but also unsportsman-like. After holding the famed rival Brooklyn Atlantics to five runs, an extraordinarily low total for the era, the Brooklyn Eagle dispatched a reporter to determine whether or not his pitch was legal; in the end, it was determined he was throwing a "fair square pitch", rather than a "jerk" or an "underhand throw."