AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n In late August 2014, Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer was sent to Triple-A Omaha for a rehab stint while recovering from a fractured bone in his right wrist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But he had another assignment there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To keep his eye on Terrance Gore, then-general manager Dayton Moore told Hosmer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So the ever-inviting Hosmer embraced Gore amid his rapid surge from A-ball to AAA to the parent club a few days later. It was the sort of ascent in a niche role \u2014 base-running whirlwind \u2014 that Moore fretted could create resentment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As Hosmer brought up that time days after Gore\u2019s shattering death last week<\/a> at age 34 from complications after an appendectomy<\/a>, he recalled seeking to instill confidence in the youngster at a potentially overwhelming time. After all, Gore was on the verge of not merely abruptly going from the low minor leagues to the big leagues, but also being injected into a playoff race.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In those days and after they each went on to Kansas City, Hosmer reassured Gore and used humor to ease any stress he might feel. He\u2019d tease him about whether crowds of 40,000 would make him nervous or ridiculously bluffed in poker games to lighten the mood. And then some.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut all those little things we tried to do were unnecessary,\u201d Hosmer said Wednesday. \u201cBecause Terrance, from that first time he went in to pinch-run, he was just absolutely fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That spirit perhaps belied Gore\u2019s 5-foot-7 stature and fresh-faced appearance. Teammates called him \u201cG-Baby\u201d for his resemblance to a beloved character in the movie \u201cHardball.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But the guy Hosmer and others forever thought of as a little brother made an instant impact as the apparent fastest man in baseball, amplifying the memorable maxim of another mentor, Jarrod Dyson: \u201cThat\u2019s what speed do.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gore on the basepaths was a vital cog of those exhilarating 2014 and 2015 Royals teams, which won back-to-back American League pennants and took the 2015 World Series.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHe could take over a game in the moment,\u201d said Moore, now the Texas Rangers\u2019 senior advisor of baseball operations. \u201cHe controlled the matchup. There was no stopping him. And everybody knew it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n You could see the ripples of that in so many ways just in those first few weeks, including with two outs in the ninth in an electrifying 4-3 win over the White Sox in mid-September: At a time the Royals had zero margin for error seeking their first postseason berth since 1985, Gore scored from second on a walk-off \u2026 infield single<\/a> \u2026 without so much as a play at the plate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All these years later, Moore and Hosmer and countless others still cherish Gore\u2019s moments on the field. Like the three World Series rings he\u2019d earn (also with the Dodgers and Braves) and how his stolen bases, extra bases and implied threat rattled so many opponents.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But all these years later, the ripples they really feel are the personal ones on the eve of Gore\u2019s funeral Saturday at Hiland Park Baptist Church<\/a> in Panama City, Fla. Players and coaches are being encouraged to wear jerseys to the service.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Those who knew him then think more about the loving father, coach and mentor Gore became, including through the Cat 5 Sports Facility he opened in Panama City, Florida in 2024.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Those he guided there have been invited to write a short quote, message or memory on a baseball or softball that will become part of a permanent memorial of how Gore inspired the community.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And beyond, as it happens.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Asked by The Star in a Facebook message if others were welcome to send messages on baseballs, Cat 5 said it would be \u201chonored to receive baseball\/softball messages from anyone whose life was influenced by Terrance. His family often visits our batting cages (and) in particular his 12-year-old son Zane as well as his team.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe hope that reading these messages comforts them and continues his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Baseballs or softballs can be sent to Cat 5 Sports Facility, 243 Commercial Drive, Panama City, FL 32405.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As Hosmer first began speaking of Gore, he thought back to spring training in Arizona in 2015 \u2014 shortly after the birth of Zane, the oldest of three children Gore was raising with his wife, Britney.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hosmer and Dyson always shared an apartment during spring training, and Gore was a frequent visitor. Hosmer said he remembered Dyson one night talking to Gore about the meaning of Zane\u2019s arrival in the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He had a new purpose in life, stressed Dyson \u2014 who last week commemorated Gore with a social media post of them celebrating after a game adapted to feature a halo over Gore\u2019s head<\/a> and a broken heart before Dyson.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c\u2018This is somebody you\u2019re going to look after your whole entire life, and he\u2019s going to look up to you his whole entire life,\u2019\u201d Hosmer recalled Dyson saying.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last year, Gore and his family attended a Royals reunion to celebrate the anniversaries of the 1985 and 2015 championship teams.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Seeing how connected Terrance and Zane were, Hosmer said, was like watching that conversation play out. Indeed, in a social media post, Britney Gore wrote that \u201ceverything Zane does is centered around his dad. Baseball, hunting, fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt breaks my heart,\u201d said Hosmer, also now a father of three.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The loss of Gore made Hosmer think about the death of Yordano Ventura in 2017 after a car crash in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not just in the sense of the suddenness and the anguish, but in what such a devastating loss reveals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As they did with Ventura in multiple ways, the Royals will honor Gore this season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So will their extended family.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhen it happened to Yordano and when it happened to Terrance, it truly showed me how much of a family we were,\u201d said Hosmer, referring to both players and fans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hours after Ventura died that January, fans and several players mourned together<\/a> at Kauffman Stadium. The next day, many players met in Miami to fly to the Dominican for the funeral.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe were there for him,\u201d Hosmer said. \u201cAnd the same thing with Terrance: Guys immediately all connected, figuring out how we can help his family, how we can be there for the family.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou know, what can we do? Like, what would Terrance want us to do in this situation? How can we take care of Zane and the whole entire family and all the kids?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While it\u2019s not immediately clear what forms that will take, Hosmer added, \u201cJust like we\u2019ve been doing with Yordano, we\u2019re going to continue to live out Terrance, his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Those bonds in these times of life, Moore said, really are \u201cthe most meaningful part of baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty of unity and togetherness and family is when things like this happen, you don\u2019t need to motivate \u2026 your baseball family to step up and do the right thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Much like he told Ventura\u2019s family at the funeral, Moore told Britney the other day it will be an honor to be there with and for them and to mourn with them and be alongside in the years to come.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That will be part of a living, breathing way to memorialize Gore, another comet gone too soon but blazing an indelible wake.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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