“His sub, Hoffman, is hitting fiercely, and today made a Billy Lush shoestring catch that saved Mullin from having a hit marked up.” The Detroit Free Press, March 24, 1904, p7
Previous earliest use (Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2009):
1ST USE. 1904. “[Danny] Green came up with a shoestring catch of [Mal] Kittredge’s low fly” (Chicago Tribune, June 4; Peter Morris).
