"He lost his dog" (baseball usage)

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:15 PM -0500 4/5/01, Gerald Cohen wrote:
>    I've come across an odd expression used in a baseball context: "He
>lost his dog." The general meaning seems to be: (of a pitcher) proved
>to be ineffective, lost control of the situation.  Origin: ?
>
>    It appears in the newspaper _San Francisco Bulletin_, May 26,
>1913, p.12/2-3; article title:" May 25 to Be Known as Longest Day of
>Baseball" col. 2 "Ever hear of a ball game that bored you? No? Well
>such an exhibition was staged at the local part yesterday.  Along
>about the third inning, after Cy Parkin had manifested a desire to
>walk a lot of people, Howard Gregory was rushed to the rescue.  From
>the moment that Howard started the flutter of Angles wings was heard
>and the sound continued until the gong in the press box interrupted
>with nine metallic strokes. When Gregory was [sic; should be 'gave']
>up the ghost, Dolly was every bit as bad as "Gray" and a little
>worse.  He lost his dog right off the reel [=right from the start],
>the Angels kicking him for the remaining tallies that went to make up
>their grand total of 22." --[The game was between the Los Angeles
>Angels and the Oakland Oaks].
>
>      Would anyone have any insight at all on this baseball usage "He
>lost his dog"? Also I'm not sure what Dolly and Gray refer to,
>although I have the feeling I may be missing something obvious.
>
 From the context, it appears to me reasonably certain that Gray is
Howard Gregory's nickname (whence the quotes) and Dolly the pitcher
who relieved him.  Thus however ineffective the wild Parkin was, and
whatever little relief "Gray" Gregory provided, giving up nine hits,
Dolly was even worse, although we don't know how many of the final
total of 22 Angel runs were charged to each.  In modern parlance,
both Gregory and Dolly would be described as firemen who poured
gasoline on the fire.  I like the presupposition in the opening
rhetorical query that baseball games are never boring.

larry