1954: Dusty Rhodes, three-run home run at the Polo Grounds, New York Giants
"In baseball, a Chinese home run, also a Chinese homer, Harlem home run, or Pekinese poke, is a derogatory and archaic term for a hit that just barely clears the outfield fence at its closest distance to home plate. It is essentially the shortest home run possible in the ballpark in question, particularly if the park has an atypically short fence to begin with. The term was most commonly used in reference to home runs hit along the right field foul line at the Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants, where that distance was short even by contemporary standards. ... Why these home runs were called 'Chinese' is not definitely known, but it is believed to have reflected an early 20th-century perception that Chinese immigrants to the United States did the menial labor they were consigned to with a bare minimum of adequacy, and were content with minimal reward for it. ..."
Wikipedia
Kansas City Royals Announcers Should Re-Think Using This Derogatory Phrase
NY Times - 'CHINESE HOMER': HOW IT ALL BEGAN; Cartoonist Tad Credited as Coiner of Term -- Oriental Food Offered to Rhodes (Oct. 1, 1954)
SABR - September 29, 1954: Willie Mays makes The Catch; Dusty Rhodes homer wins Game One
Mel Ott, on a 1933 baseball card
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