America's National Game. Albert G. Spalding
as it was known in its infancy, is well recollected by those whose memory extends back to the years before the Civil War.
" The stone in commemoration of Creighton faces the famous Firemen's Monument, and it would never be mistaken for anything else than the grave of a ball player. Across the face of the column, surrounded by a circle of oak leaves cut in the granite, is a design embodying a pair of bats crossed, a cap, a base and a score book, surmounted across the top by a scroll with the word " Excelsior " carved upon it. The old Excelsior Club of Brooklyn was the one with which Creighton made his reputation as a pitcher. On a level slab, just below the wreath, are carved the words: 'James Creighton, son of James and Jane Creighton, April 15, 1841; October 18, 1862.' A Baseball, fashioned in stone, rests lightly upon the topmost pinnacle of the monument.
" Creighton's death occurred when he was twenty-one years of age, while he was still an active member of the Excelsiors. He was not only well known, but thoroughly popular among the followers of the early game, and his death came as a personal loss to every man who had been associated with him, either on the Baseball field or in everyday life. Though he has been dead thirty-six years, Creighton's memory is still cherished by surviving members of the Excelsior Club.
" Creighton was in his day generally conceded to be the pitcher par excellence of the period. He was the first to introduce the wrist throw, or low underhand delivery, which was so puzzling to batsmen of that day. His forte was great speed and thorough command of the ball. His first appearance was as a member of the Niagara Club of this city in 1858. He was then playing second base, and J. A. Shields, U. S. Commissioner, was pitcher. He remained with the Niagaras throughout that season and the greater part of the following one, playing second base most of the time. In July, 1859, he began to loom up as a bright particular star in the Baseball firmament. He first attracted attention as a pitcher in a game against the Star Club. Shields, the regular pitcher, was absent, and Creighton pitched so effectively that the Star Club tempted him to leave the Niagaras and join its nine, which he did, along with George H. Flanly, who had also been playing with the Niagaras.
" On September 3, 1859, the Stars met the Excelsiors on the latter's grounds in South Brooklyn, and the former won by a score of 17 to 12. On October 19, the Stars met the then famous old Atlantic nine on the Excelsior's grounds, and, after an interesting game, the Atlantics won by a score of 15 to 12. The contest was so evenly played that at the end of the seventh innings the score was a tie — 11 to 11. Loose fielding, however, on the part of the Star players enabled the Atlantics to win. That season Creighton participated in six match games.
"During the following winter Creighton and Flanly joined the Excelsiors, and it was while with the latter that Creighton gained his greatest renown. In 1860 he participated in twenty match games, some of which are memorable ones. Probably the most noteworthy of these was the famous series between the Excelsiors and the Atlantics. The latter were pretty generally looked upon as being unconquerable. On May 17, 1860, the Charter Oaks defeated the Excelsiors by 12 to 11. Commissioner Shields pitched for the former and Creighton for the latter. On June 21 these clubs met again, and this time the Excelsiors won by 36 to 9. Creighton pitched for the Excelsiors and Shields for the losers. In July Creighton accompanied the Excelsiors on their great tour of victory through the State."
Under the caption, " Obsequies of a Celebrated Ball Player," the Brooklyn Eagle of October 20th, 1862, contained the following obituary:
" The remains of the late James P. Creighton, familiar in Baseball and cricket circles as one of the best players in the Union, were yesterday conveyed to their last resting place, followed by a large; number of friends and relatives.
" The circumstances of his death are very touching. In the late match with the Unions (Tuesday last) the deceased sustained an internal injury occasioned by strain while batting. After suffering for a few days, he expired on Saturday afternoon last at the residence of his father, 307 Henry Street. The remains were incased in a handsome rosewood coffin, with silver mountings, and upon a silver plate was inscribed the name, age, etc., of the deceased—' James P. Creighton, 21 years, 7 months and 2 days.' "
CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRST SERIOUS BACKSET TO THE GAME – WIDESPREAD DEMORALIZATION FOLLOWING THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR – BASEBALL PLAYED IN CAMPS OF BOTH CONTENDING ARMIES.
AS HAS been already stated, the years 1857-8-9 saw . rapid progress in the multiplication and quality of Baseball organizations. The decade of the fifties had developed the game from one of crude beginnings to a sport that was attracting widespread attention because of its easily discernible possibilities. The year 1860, however, was the banner year in early Baseball history. The triumphal tour of the Excelsiors had wrought wonders in the way of creating public sentiment favorable to the game. The contests at Albany, Troy, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Baltimore had inspired the young men of those cities to emulate the example of the youth of New York and Brooklyn, and had begotten within them the hope that they might win for their cities a glory akin to that which had been achieved for the city on Long Island. As a result, clubs were organized by the hundreds, the fever spreading to all parts of the country, East, West, North and South, and matches, which developed strong new players, were scheduled everywhere.
But in 1861 a serious check was given to the progress of Baseball. The news that Fort Sumter had been fired upon turned the thoughts of men of the North to a subject more grave than ball playing, while Southerners, believing that the President's call to arms meant the invasion of the " Sunny South," prepared to give their Northern visitors a less hospitable reception than that which had been accorded to the Excelsiors a few months previous at Baltimore. Thoughts of contests on fields of sport ..were banished from the minds of men in every section, while all looked forward to a greater, fiercer struggle that should be decided by the arbitrament of arms on fields of battle.
And yet, while the game of ball, during those four years of fratricidal strife, was held in abeyance — the attention of its votaries being more deeply engaged in the game of war — it was nevertheless undergoing an evolution of greatest import to its future. For, during those years of unhappy conflict, on both sides of the line "Yanks" and " Johnnies " were playing ball and laying the foundation for a game which, when war's alarms should cease, would be national in its spirit and national in its perpetuity.
No human mind may measure the blessings conferred by the game of Baseball on the soldiers of our Civil War. A National Game? Why, no country on the face of the earth ever had a form of sport with so clear a title to that distinction. Baseball had been born in the brain of an American soldier. It received its baptism in bloody days of our Nation's direst danger. It had its early evolution when soldiers, North and South, were striving to forget their foes by cultivating, through this grand game, fraternal friendships with comrades in arms. It had it best development at the time when Southern soldiers, disheartened by distressing defeat, were seeking the solace of something safe and sane; at a time when Northern soldiers, flushed with victory, were yet willing to turn from fighting with bombs and bullets to playing with bat and ball. It was a panacea for the pangs of humiliation to the vanquished on the one side, and a sedative against the natural exuberance of victors on the other. It healed the wounds of war, and was balm to stinging memories of sword thrust and saber stroke. It served to fill the enforced leisure hours of countless thousands of men suddenly thrown out of employment. It calmed the restless spirits of men who, after four years of bitter strife, found themselves all at once in the midst of a monotonous era, with nothing at all to do.
And then, when true patriots of all sections were striving to forget that there had been a time of black and dismal war, it was a beacon, lighting their paths to a future of perpetual peace. And, later still, it was a medium through which the men who had worn the blue, found welcome to the cities of those who had worn the gray, and before the decade of the sixties had died the game of Baseball helped all of us to " know no North, no South," only remembering a reunited Nation, whose game it was henceforth to be forever.
It