“Dolan went to bat in the eighth with a determined look in his eye, and in a few minutes was standing panting but happy, on third, having laced the ball out toward the fence in a way that was beautiful to behold.” “A Narrow Escape: The Omahas Nearly Catch the Sluggers Asleep,” Nebraska State Journal (Omaha), July 9, 1887, p2
Previous earliest use (Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2009):
1888. “Lace it out” (a caption in Thomas W. Lawson, The Krank: His Language and What It Means; David Shulman).
