In 1885, Titcomb started his professional baseball career with the Haverhill, Massachusetts, team of the Eastern New England League.

[2] Titcomb finished the season with a 0–5 win–loss record in five games started with a 3.73 earned run average (ERA).

[4][5] In 1891, Titcomb finished his professional baseball career with the Rochester Hop Bitters and the Providence Clamdiggers of the Eastern Association.

At no time whatsoever during his professional playing career did the putative nickname 'Cannon Ball'/'Cannonball' appear in the newspapers that covered Titcomb."

After his playing days, during which Titcomb worked in shoe manufacturing, reported Lamb, he was accorded "sparse newspaper attention.

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.