282 - On Baseball's First Superstar w/ Thomas W. Gilbert

About this episode

Thomas W. Gilbert discusses his book on James Creighton, baseball's first superstar and the evolution of pitching.

Our guest this episode is Thomas W. Gilbert. His new book, "Death in the Strike Zone: The Mystery of America's First Baseball Hero" (David R. Godine, 2026), is the story of James Creighton, a young pitcher who pitched for amateur clubs in Brooklyn and is credited for inventing modern pitching. Gilbert's book is not only about Creighton's exploits on the field, but about the life and times of baseball in its earliest years - before the Civil War, before industrialization and before the g...

People in this episode

Guest: Thomas W. Gilbert

Topics covered

• baseball history
• biography
• sports culture
• 19th century baseball
• pitching innovation

Keywords

• baseball
• James Creighton
• Thomas W. Gilbert
• pitching
• 19th century
• sports history
• biography

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Death in the Strike Zone: The Mystery of America's First Baseball Hero

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