Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) a seller of (old) clothes.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: twirlers a set of vagrants who go from fair to fair with men and woman’s [sic] old cloaths.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

2. (US) a baseball pitcher.

1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 29 May 14/2: Dominlck McCaffrey will stick to the ring, as his aspirations lo become a baseball twirler have been blasted by the cruel newspapers jumping on him with both feet.
1912		C. Mathewson Pitching in a Pitch 4: Many a heady hitter [...] realizes what his weakness is and knows that a twirler is going to pitch at it.
2012		D. Spivey ‘If You Were Only White’ 142: ‘Satchel is a great pitcher and would help our club [...] but we cannot let even a twirler so good as Paige run our leagues’.