• Card series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
• City: Brooklyn
• Team: Excelsiors
• League: National Association (NABBP)

James Creighton, Jr. (1841-1862) was a star pitcher for the Excelsior of Brooklyn from 1860-62. Widely regarded as the game’s 1st superstar and, perhaps, its 1st martyr. His unique pitching motion propelled him to fame, but his death from a ruptured hernia caused while hitting a home run gave this young man a place in the Pantheon of early greats.

• John Thorn, official historian of MLB, has called Creighton the “most important player not inducted into the Hall of Fame”
• Threw baseball’s 1st shutout: 11.8.1860
• In 1866 baseball made a small contribution to national reconciliation as the Washington Nationals came to Brooklyn for a match. Both clubs retired to the Creighton monument where, per the NY Times, “a silent tear was dropped to [his] memory…”