Brooklyn Excelsior Jim Creighton invented modern pitching. He dominated with a blazing fastball and, possibly, the first curveball. After an undefeated road record in 1860, Creighton was baseball's brightest star at age 21. He did not live to see 22. His shocking death in 1862 was immediately controversial. Did he die from a sports injury? Creighton excelled at both cricket and the young sport of baseball; each camp blamed the other for his death. Was one of them right? Or was something -- or someone -- else responsible?