“Manager Watkins, of Detroit, is thought to entertain some notion of securing Will White as an emergency pitcher.” “Short Stops,” Savannah News, March 30, 1886, p9
Previous earliest use (Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2009):
1886. “Jim White is said to be pulling the wires to have Brother Will signed by the Detroits as emergency pitcher.” (The Boston Globe, May 17; Peter Morris)..
