“The fielding skill of a player is determined by the number of chances he accepts out of the entire number offered. If a second baseman in any one game puts out one, assists one time, and makes one error, it is plain to be seen that three chances were offered him to retire men, and of those three two were accepted, the unaccepted one being in the error committed. Now divide the two accepts by the three offers, and his fielding percentage is arrived at .666.” “Complete Resume of the League Ball-playing for 1877: Accurate Summaries for the Batting and Fielding Averages of Every Player–Louisville Leads in Fielding and the Bostons in Batting,” Mercury (New York), October 14, 1877, p5
No earliest use given in 2009 Dickson Baseball Dictionary
