“O’Brien made an elegant running catch of an almost home run ball from Werden’s bat.” “A Better Game,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver), September 5, 1886, p3
“Roseman says Burns’s home-run ball went over the fence fair, and Roseman ought to know.” “Base-Ball Notes,” Baltimore Sun, August 11, 1887, p3
Previous earliest use (Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2009):
1937. (Philadelphia Record; Sept. 28; Edward J. Nichols).
