"He lost his dog" (baseball usage)

[Gerald Cohen]

    My apologies for omitting a sentence in my April 5 ADS-L message
concerning 1913 baseball "he lost his dog." The mystery remains
concerning the origin of this expression, but the problem of Dolly
Gray is now largely cleared up by seeing the full quote.
    Remarkably, George Thompson seems to have correctly figured out a
key fact despite my botched presentation. Thompson wrote (April 6):
"...Gregory relieved Parkin, and screwed up;  Gray relieved Gregory
and did worse.  Dolly was 'as bad as 'Gray'" because of negative
color imagery: he was as bad as the word 'gray' implies."
    Incidentally, though, I have come across no other 1913 instances
of "gray" being used to describe inept playing.
     Here is the full quote, with my originally omitted part now
presented in capitals. 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 Angels 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 GRAY, VENETIAN CASTOFF, WAS ASSIGNED THE TASK OF
PITCHING 'EM OVER. 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].

     My thanks to Larry Horn too for his reply.

---Gerald Cohen