“Summa is what Nick Altrock calls a ‘banjo hitter.’ He chokes his bat and plunks hits just over the infield.” Siff newman, “Dusting ’em Off,” Birmingham (AL) News -Age Herald, January 20, 1929, Sports Section p4
Previous earliest use (Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2009):
“A ‘banjo hitter’ is one who hits pop flies over the field.” (Baseball Magazine, Jan. 1943; David Shulman).
