“Boston’s Diamond Artists Lose on Trojan Fields” (Headline). Boston Globe. July 17, 1881, p5
“Nickerson can now boast of two ball clubs that can make a respectable showing with any ‘diamond artists’ in the State.” Nickerson (KS) Register, May 30, 1885, p4
- NOTE: The term appears to have been in wider use in the 1910s and 1920 and started to fade in the 1930s. (Ken Liss)
Previous earliest use (Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2009):
No first use given, but calls it “a term used during the 1930s for a ballplayer. “
