Antedating of "Second Guesser"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Nice work, Fred and Ben. The cite below in  February 1911 tells a long
convoluted joke that includes the phrase "second guessers' table". The
"second guessers" were proofreaders who were rejected pages from
typographical operators. Proofreaders were second guessing the quality
and style adherence of the pages.

The OED definition and the other cites seems to be in the baseball domain.

Date: February 1911
Journal: Typographical Journal
Volume: 38
Quote Page: 168
Column: 2

http://books.google.com/books?id=0pQuAQAAIAAJ&q=guessers#v=snippet&q=guessers&f=false


[Begin excerpt]
The piecework system in St Louis newspapers
engenders frequent and spirited tilts between
proofreaders and operators as to what constitutes
ringable proofmarks. One sub who has had more
or less difficulty in bumping his way through the
mazes of the office style sheet announced in despair
the other day that the reason there were so
many bachelor proofreaders in St. Louis is that
they are so confounded contrary that they can t
bring themselves to give a "ring" even to a blushing
bride. Another bilious one remarked that
while he always kicked for a "ring," the "gink with
the noseglasses" won't even ring for the elevator,
but always kicks on the door. Still another sought
surcease from his pent-up emotions by easing himself
of the following verbal marathon: "So-and-So,
over at the second guessers' table, is the proud
grandpa of an infant prodigy. The other night
the babe's mother was ill and the grandfather
decided to take the infant to bed with them, that the
mother might have a night's unbroken slumber.
During the night the grandmother was awakened
by a series of short, low wails from the little one.
'What a peculiar style of crying,' exclaimed
grandma. I don't believe I ever heard a baby cry that
way before. His little teeth must be hurting him.
Guess I'll get up and get him his teething ring.'
'Can't give him a ring on that,' grunted the
grandfather drowsily, 'he didn't follow the style.'"
[End excerpt]

Notes about months and page numbers:
January 1911 starts on page 1. Vol. 28 Number 1
February 1911 starts on page 121. Vol. 28 Number 2.
March 1911 start on page 255. Vol. 28. Number 3

Garson

On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 10:40 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Second Guesser"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 9:57 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>>
>> second guesser (OED 1937)
>>
>> 1913 _N.Y. Times_ 8 Oct. 5 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  Tesreau
>> came like a whirlwind, and he gave the second guessers the fine little alibi,
>> for he had a world of speed, fair control, and everything a pitcher needs.
>
> One day earlier than the cite Fred posted in '06:
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0601B&L=ADS-L&I=-3&P=25732
>
> And a few months earlier than one I posted in '04:
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0412C&L=ADS-L&P=R2&I=-3
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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