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From the "New Dickson Baseball Dictionary:
The explanation offered by Richard G. Knowles & Richard Morton (Baseball, 1896) is that the term "has its origin in telegraphy, the pitcher being the transmitter, and the catcher the receiver." However, Henry Chadwick (Technical Terms of Baseball, 1897) clearly implies a military source when he gives this definition: "This is the term applied to the pitcher and catcher of a team. It is the main attacking force of the little army of nine players in the field in a contest." Most later attempts to pin a history on the term have alluded to this comparison to a military artillery unit. Later on, Frank J. Reiter (The Sporting News, Jan 18, 1940) wrote: "It may possibly have arisen as follows: General Abner Doubleday, the founder of baseball, being a military man, may have originated the phrase. As the word 'fire' is a military command, and as the pitcher literally 'fires' the ball to the plate much in the same manner as a field artillery battery fires a cannon, this may have prompted the name of a military unit to be applied to the pitcher and catcher."
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