There are claims it comes from the latin "ad" similar to how & comes from the latin "et" but the etymology is far less certain, with the french à being another

There are claims it comes from the latin "ad" similar to how & comes from the latin "et" but the etymology is far less certain, with the french à being another possible source. What I can't find is when it was first used in the US for indicating home-team for sports. E.g. [1] where there is vs. or @ depending on whether it is a home or away game. I suspect it's relatively modern, but not sure how far back it goes. 1: https://www.mlb.com/redsox/schedule/2023-09 https://www.mlb.com/redsox/schedule/2023-09