The nickname first appeared in print in 1948, two years before Titcomb's death. The Haverhill Gazette of Haverhill, Massachusetts, published a profile of the long-retired player, and the article included the following passage: "Those who remember Titcomb will recall that his pitches were so fast that the only fellow who could catch them was Bill (sic) Robinson, who later became manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
When Titcomb died in 1950, the Gazette repeated the nickname in an obituary which included numerous biographical errors. Thereafter, obituaries published by the Associated Press and in The Sporting News, both of which drew upon the Gazette obituary, repeating the erroneous nickname as well as the factual errors.