“With Saturday’s games the won and lost record of the various clubs stands: League—Chicago, 53,15; New York, 51, 16; Providence, 40. 24 ….” Every Evening (Wilmington, DE), August 3, 1885, p2
- Applied to teams
“Up to Monday the won and lost record of the league pitchers was as follows:….” Chicago Tribune, September 6, 1889, p6
- Applied to pitchers
Previous earliest use (Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2009):
1ST USE. 1913. “Although [Ed] Walsh’s ‘won-and-lost’ record for 1910 was low, he had a good year” (The Washington Post, Aug. 31; Peter Morris).
