[Ads-l] "bunt" (1874)

[Ben Zimmer]

"Bunt" (v.) in the baseball sense is in OED2 from 1889, and Dickson's
Baseball Dictionary (3rd ed.) has it from 1875. Richard Hershberger brought
the July 1874 example below to my attention, and I was able to push it back
a couple of months.

---
Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago), May 14, 1874, p. 8, col. 1
McMullin "bunted" a ball to a drop at his feet, and saved his first.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46914510/bunt/
---
Chicago Daily Tribune, July 19, 1874, p. 16, col. 1
Craver, after bunting the ball in front of the plate and reaching his base
in safety, allowed himself to be caught napping by the ever-watchful
Zettlein.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46915348/bunt/
---

--bgz

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org