Back in my very first blog post, I mentioned how my taste for baseball started in 1993 thanks to the classic Simpsons episode “Homer at the Bat.” A core memory of mine was Mr. Burns’s old-fashioned picks for his company softball team, which included guys like Honus Wagner and Cap Anson. The biggest laugh for me came when Smithers pointed out that all of Burns’s chosen players had long since passed away—especially the line about the right fielder, Jim Creighton, who had been dead for 130 years. At the time, I assumed that was just an over-the-top Simpsons gag.

But here’s the wild truth: airing in early 1992, “130 years” backward lands us exactly in 1862, right during the American Civil War. As a Belgian kid who’d never even been to the United States, this sounded like some outlandish comedic stretch. Surely no one playing baseball died in 1862…right? Turns out, that’s precisely the year Jim Creighton died. Over 30 years later, I learned that Smithers’s line wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

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Jim Creighton: Baseball’s First Superstar

Early Days & Rise to Fame
James Creighton, Jr. was born on April 15, 1841, in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn. By the age of 16, he was already impressing folks on both the baseball and cricket fields. His local team, the Niagara of Brooklyn, discovered his unique pitching style almost by accident in an 1859 match against the Star Club. Once the Stars saw his low, swift underhand delivery, they essentially “poached” him, and soon he caught the eye of another powerhouse team, the Excelsior of Brooklyn.

In 1860, with Creighton pitching, the Excelsiors became one of the most dominant clubs around. He drew huge crowds on their baseball tour along the East Coast, and rumor has it that he became one of the earliest players ever to be paid under the table. Even as an “amateur,” Creighton was racking up runs at the plate and baffling batters from the pitcher’s box. By 1862, he was hitting 1.000—yes, he supposedly got a hit every single time he batted that season!

Innovating the Pitcher’s Role
Back then, baseball rules required the ball to be delivered underhand, with a stiff arm and wrist. The pitcher’s job was more about serving up easy-to-hit balls so that the spotlight could shine on fielders. Creighton turned that idea upside down by hurling the ball swiftly. Many believed he was sneaking in elbow or wrist movements—illegal at the time. Whether it was truly “illegal” or just impressive is still up for debate, but his speed and control were so unthinkable that spectators assumed he must be cheating. Other pitchers, inspired by his success, began to emulate him anyway, helping shift the game toward the pitcher-vs.-batter duel we know today.

Cricket & Dual Sporting Life
Creighton wasn’t just a baseball phenom—he also excelled at cricket. He competed in several cricket matches (sometimes even professionally), pitting his skills against visiting English teams. His mastery in both sports made him an all-around legend, but it was baseball that truly elevated him to heroic status among fans.

A Tragic End
In October 1862, in the midst of a stellar season, Creighton suffered a ruptured abdominal hernia. Contrary to later dramatized accounts, he probably did not cause it with a single, heroic home-run swing. More recent research suggests the hernia was chronic and aggravated by his intense pitching style—remember, no one called balls or strikes back then, so he might have thrown hundreds of pitches per match. He passed away four days after the injury, just 21 years old.

Legacy
Creighton’s death sent shockwaves through baseball. Many worried that it would scare new fans away from the sport. Others tried to claim he’d actually injured himself playing cricket, hoping to keep baseball’s image “safe.” Regardless of the spin, he left an enormous imprint on the fledgling game. The “fast ball” and the idea of outsmarting the batter became standard. The fact that pitchers eventually had to contend with “called balls” and “walks” can be traced to the difficulty of hitting or even making contact with unstoppable arms like Creighton’s.

Creighton was buried in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, beneath a striking marble obelisk once crowned by a giant marble baseball. Over time, that finial disappeared, but a replica was finally placed back atop his memorial in a ceremony in 2014. Although James Creighton may not be a household name today, and he’s not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, many historians see him as the game’s first true superstar—and the reason pitching became the dominant force it is today.

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Terminology Rundown (Beginners’ Corner)

1. Pitcher: The player who throws the ball to the batter. Originally meant to “pitch” it gently, but evolved into a more competitive role.
2. Underhand Delivery: Throwing the ball underhand (arm moving from down to up) with a stiff elbow and wrist, as rules required in the mid-1800s.
3. Batter: The player trying to hit the pitched ball. In Creighton’s day, they expected easy lobs—until he changed the game.
4. Match Game: An old-fashioned term for an official baseball game between two clubs (as opposed to practice or intramural play).
5. Shutout: A game where one team prevents the other from scoring at all. Creighton is credited with baseball’s first-ever recorded shutout.
6. Illegal Pitch: A pitch delivery that breaks the rules—like bending an elbow or snapping a wrist when it wasn’t allowed in the 1860s.
7. Home Run: When the batter hits the ball and touches all four bases to score a run. The mythical story is that Creighton’s last swing was a fatal home run.
8. Runs: The points in baseball, scored when a player completes a trip around the bases and crosses home plate.
9. Called Balls/Walks: Modern rules penalize pitches thrown outside the batter’s reach if repeated too often; four “balls” grant the batter first base. This didn’t exist in Creighton’s day, forcing pitchers to throw far more pitches per game.

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Who knew that a line from The Simpsons would lead me, three decades on, to discover how a teenage pitching whiz left such an enduring mark on baseball…in 1862, no less! The next time someone says baseball history is all about “modern greats,” you can proudly point back to Jim Creighton, the first speed demon on the mound—and proof that sometimes the craziest TV jokes turn out to be 100% true.