Fishing Expedition (1890); Out in Left Field (1946)

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FISHING EXPEDITION

   I have to satisfy the lawyers on this list SOMETIME.
   OED has 1961 for "fishing expedition."  Merriam-Webster says "circa 1925."  There are tons of hits; I searched using "fishing expedition" and "court."

   10 March 1918, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 6 headline:
   Federal Court of Appeal Intimates Investigator Is on "Fishing Expedition" in Counsel's Vaults.
   25 November 1890, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 5:
   ...further, that the Grand Jury must have a definite accusation to work on, just as a Coroner must have a body before he can hold an inquest, and that it is not empowered to go on "fishing expeditions," as it is doing in this case.

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OUT IN LEFT FIELD

   I searched for "out in left field."  Just "in left field" got too many hits.  I tried to leave out "baseball" in the search, but that sometimes didn't work.
   Paul Dickson's NEW BASEBALL DICTIONARY has a first hit on 28 April 1969, by Peter Tamony.  That's way off--maybe somewhere in right field.
   The first NEW YORK TIMES "out in left field" (including baseball context) is 28 April 1908.

   24 November 1965, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 29:
   "We're not out in left field," he said.
(A fashion article--ed.)

   9 November 1960, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 51:
   Also, the Pennsylvania delegation's seats in the Los Angeles Coliseum were described as "stuck far out in left field," he added.

   18 September 1960, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 1:
   "We've been left out in left field,"
(LEFT out in LEFT field.  Nice--ed.)

   5 December 1957, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 45:
   ...with the husband somewhere out in left field.

   10 May 1954, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 15:
   The nation's new chief Communist-hunter was way out in left field today.
(He was playing ball--in left field--when his appointment was announced.  Maybe he was also a leftist?--ed.)

   15 March 1953, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 19:
   "What I mean is simply that our subcommittee has no intention of getting caught out in left field when the next batter may swing from the other side of the plate."

   18 November 1951, pg. 46:
   "Webster's is out in left field all by itself," Mr. Bills declared.
(Merriam-Webster's defining of a word, compared to OED and others--ed.)

   16 August 1946, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 4:
   "Comrade Connolly is, as usual, out in left field," Mr. Flynn said in reply.