Antedating of "Screwball"

[Fred Shapiro]

The searchable historical newspapers are particularly powerful for
antedating sports vocabulary, as Barry Popik has so ably demonstrated.
Here is a significant baseball antedating:

screwball (Baseball) (OED 1928)

1926 _N.Y. Times_ 9 Oct. 11  He [Grover Cleveland Alexander] defied the
Yanks to molest his fast ball, his screw ball, his perfect control.


The Washington Post may have even earlier usage, but I do not currently
have access to Pro Quest Historical Washington Post.

Fred Shapiro

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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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