Garry Hancock

Garry Hancock was a strong-armed, good-hitting outfielder who did not earn a regular place in the star-studded Red Sox outfield of Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, and Dwight Evans. Instead, Hancock filled in for the outfield trio during the heartbreaking roller coaster ride that was Boston’s 1978 campaign.

Ronald Garry Hancock was born on January 23, 1954 at Tampa, Florida to Lawrence Leeman Hancock and Norma (Prine) Hancock of Brandon, Florida.1 His father was employed as a machine operator according to the 1940 census. His mother was a homemaker.2

Hancock went by Garry rather than Ronald or Ron.3 The left-handed hitting and throwing Hancock batted .300 in Legion ball and .350 as a senior at Brandon High School. “He’s real consistent, ”Brandon coach Jim Gunser said of Hancock. “You can always count on Garry to hit the ball somewhere. I bat him third because of that.”4

Hancock made the All-County Team for Brandon in his senior season.5 He was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 22nd round of the 1972 amateur draft. Garry decided to attend Hillsborough Community College where he played outfield for the 1973 baseball team. The Cleveland Indians drafted Hancock in the regular phase of the January 1974 draft and he again chose not to sign. On June 6, 1974, he was picked by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the secondary phase of the major-league draft.6

Fifteen days later, on June 21, Hancock signed a scholarship letter to attend the University of South Carolina and play for coach Bobby Richardson, the former Yankee All-Star second baseman. The Gamecocks undoubtedly took note of how Hancock notched a .344 batting average in 1973 with a two-year batting average of .318 for Hillsborough.7

Beyond these developments, the summer of 1974 was auspicious for Hancock. On July 6 he wed Kathy Morello. She also attended Hillsborough Community College and was a legal secretary.8

In Hancock’s only year at South Carolina, the Gamecocks went all the way to the final game of the 1975 College World Series on the strength of a 51-6-1 record. The team was led by All-American pitcher Earl Bass and NCAA career home run leader Hank Small. The Gamecocks lost the title game 5-1 to the University to Texas.9 Hancock helped the South Carolina offense with a .351 batting average.

The California Angels selected Hancock in the secondary phase of the June 1975 draft. Again, he did not sign.

Hancock was drafted for the fifth time when Cleveland took him in the secondary phase of the January 1976 draft. This time he committed. The news accounts of Hancock’s signing noted his .351 batting average and perfect fielding percentage at South Carolina.10

Hancock played the 1976 season with the Indians’ A-level affiliate in the California League, the San Jose Bees. He batted well and excelled in the field, hitting .308 with 5 HRs, 77 RBIs, and 56 runs scored in 526 AB. He led the California League with 20 assists from the outfield.11

Hancock moved up to AA ball at the start of the 1977 season with Jersey City where he posted a .321 batting average, 34 RBIs, nine doubles, and nine triples in 240 at-bats. He was promoted to AAA Toledo in July. There he finished with a .265 batting average in a total of 189 at-bats.

After the 1977 season, the Indians swapped Hancock for a home-run hitting first baseman in the Boston Red Sox system named Jack Baker. Hancock was assigned to the Pawtucket Red Sox for the 1978 season.12

Hancock arrived at Red Sox spring training in 1978 with much achieved. He batted .308 with San Jose. He hit a combined .296 with four home runs in Jersey City and Toledo. Pawtucket Red Sox manager Joe Morgan was surprised the Sox had acquired a talent like Hancock for a relatively low cost. “Hancock can do four things — hit for average, run, field and throw and you sure as hell don’t see a lot of players do that.”13

Hancock did not make the Red Sox out of spring training, but he continued to burnish his credentials with Pawtucket in 1978.

On April 5, Luis Tiant pitched for the Bristol Red Sox in a rehab stint against Pawtucket and Hancock struck two of the five hits allowed by Tiant. Only four of the crafty Cuban’s pitches were hit hard and two of them were hit by Hancock for a single and a double.14

Hancock showed power, too. On April 25, PawSox overcame a five-run deficit against Columbus. Hancock and teammate Sam Bowen homered in the 7-6comeback win.15 On May 27, he smashed a home run in a 7-2 victory over Rochester.16 A headline in The Sporting News called him “Hammerin Hancock” after belting a grand slam against Richmond and raising his average to .298.17

By the time Hancock was called up to the Boston Red Sox on July 14 he sported a .303 batting average with eight home runs, 44 RBIs, and 41 runs scored in 310 at-bats. He also nailed 11 runners with outfield assists for the PawSox.

Hancock got his first hit the next night off Dave Goltz. With Boston down 2-1, Hancock led off the bottom of the 10th with a single to centerfield and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jerry Remy. With two out, Jim Rice singled in Hancock with the tying run. After a single by Carl Yastrzemski, Rice scored on a single by Carlton Fisk to win the game.

The Red Sox then snapped off five wins in a row but, from July 20 to 28, they lost nine of 10.Injuries contributed to the losses. Yastrzemski was in a back brace in New England Rehabilitation Hospital.18 Rick Burleson was out with torn knee ligaments. Fred Lynn had an ankle injury. Jim Rice was recovering from a foot affliction.19 In those nine losses, the team’s lead over the second-place Brewers declined from eight games to 4 1/2. Their lead over the fourth-place Yankees, the team that would later bring heartbreak, dropped from 13 games to eight.

Over that stretch, Hancock got into four games, mostly as a pinch-hitter.

Despite the rough patch, the Red Sox entered the month of August with a 65-38 record, and a 5 ½ game lead. The Yankees were in third place, 7 ½ behind. Boston played very well throughout August, posting a 19-10 record and ending the month with a seven-game lead over New York. The Yankees had climbed over Milwaukee and into second place.

Hancock struggled at the plate that August, batting .216 (11-for-51). His best game was on August 17 in Anaheim. He snuffed out a rally in the bottom of the first by throwing out Lyman Bostock from center field. He singled home Fisk in the top of the second inning and subsequently scored Boston’s second run. He singled home Rice in the third inning to make the score 4-1. He singled in his third and last at-bat completing a 3-for-3 performance. The single set up Boston’s fifth run. The Red Sox won, 8-6.20

The first two weeks of September were ugly for Boston. They lost two of three at home to Oakland, then another two of three in Baltimore. In Boston, they endured a four-loss thumping by the Yankees known as the Boston Massacre. The scores were 15-3, 13-2, 7-0, and 7-4. After 115 straight days at the top of the AL East, the Red Sox fell out of first place on September 13 and were suddenly looking up at the Yankees.

Hancock played in seven of those early September games, contributing little at the plate while going 2-for-6 in three games of the Massacre, with a double off Ken Clay in the 15-3 loss.

In three days immediately after falling out of first, from September 14 to 16, the Red Sox lost three more times and rested at 3 1/2 games behind New York. The streaking Yankees won 13 of 16 games in 16 days.

The shift in the standings was in no small way due to how well the Yankees played. The Bronx Bombers won 23 of 30 games in September, a blistering .767 clip. Their year-end surge included a run from September 5 through September 16 in which they won 10 of 11.

This was the nadir of Boston’s regular season. The Sox were riding high in July with a 10-game lead at the high point but on September 16 they were trying to course correct from a historic collapse. It would take a strong comeback to catch the Yankees.

Boston snapped out of their funk and won 12 of their final 14 games, tying the Yankees for first after defeating Toronto on the last day of the season while the Yankees lost to Cleveland on the same day.

The Red Sox comeback set the stage for the one-game playoff at Fenway on October 2 in which Bucky Dent homered to give the Yankees a lead in the seventh inning and Reggie Jackson provided the winning run with his four-bagger in the eighth.

Hancock did not play in the Bucky Dent game. He had not hit well toward the end of the season, going 4-for-17 in his last 12 games. He did not appear in a game after September 24.

Interviewed by Tom McEwen of the Tampa Tribune just days after the Dent game, Hancock said he whooped and yelled from the bench in that final clash. He wanted to pinch-hit for Jack Brohamer with one on in the bottom of the seventh but Zimmer instead sent Bob Bailey to face Rich Gossage. Bailey struck out.21

Hancock felt the Red Sox had the Yankees right where they wanted them in the playoff game, at Fenway in a winner-take-all. They forced a tie by winning their last eight games to get there. They had opportunities to win that game and failed. Now it was time to move on. There was cause for optimism. The Red Sox would be good again next year. Zimmer had told Hancock he would see him in spring training.22

During his two and a half months with Boston in 1978, Hancock appeared in 38 games. He played in the outfield in 19 games and was used as a pinch-runner in three games. He was the DH in 13 games.Hebatted.225 with no home runs and four RBIs in 80 at-bats. He also notched three assists in outfield duty.

Hancock had his introduction to the pace, pitching and demands of life in the major leagues. He told the press, “There’s absolutely no comparison between the Big Leagues and Triple A Ball. None whatsoever. You get to the top and people are so good there it’s scary. They can throw hard, to the spot, do anything they want with the ball.”23

Before spring training for 1979 commenced, he felt positive as he came off a season of winter ball in Mexico, where he batted .345. “I know I’m a good hitter. Last season (with Boston) I really didn’t get up enough. I was tight. No rhythm. And I hadn’t really seen the good pitching before. It was really another ball game for me but this year I’ll be ready.”24

Hancock played with the Red Sox in spring training but was released the day the team cut the roster down to 25 men, optioned to Pawtucket on April 2, 1979.25 Player acquisitions increased the competition. The Red Sox purchased the contract of outfielder/first baseman Jim Dwyer in March. Tom Poquette was acquired in a trade that sent George Scott to Kansas City. Lynn, Rice, Evans, and Yaz were still in front of Hancock, too, of course.

Hancock spent the entire 1979 season in Pawtucket and made the most of it. He batted .325 and won the International League batting crown. He hit 15 home runs with 58 RBIs and51 runs scored in 406 at-bats. He notched 15 outfield assists.26Hancock hit safely in 50 of 58 games in which he batted more than once from May 27 through August 22, compelling The Sporting News to call him a model of consistency.27

Hancock was realistic about his chances for making the Red Sox in 1980 and Sox manager Zimmer did not shrink from saying it plainly. “Any outfielder who makes this club has to make it as a utility outfielder with Rice, Lynn and Evans in my outfield. Not only that, my two other left handed hitters on the bench, Dwyer and Poquette, hit .265 and .331 and did a helluva job for me.”28

On April 2, 1980 Hancock was one of nine players cut by the Red Sox and assigned to Pawtucket. Sam Bowen, who led the International League in home runs the prior year with 28 and tied for the RBI crown with 75, was philosophical about the demotion. He said, “God didn’t make many Rices, Lynns and Evans on the same club.”29

Infielder Dave Stapleton, also among the nine men sent down, batted .486 in spring training and was the International League’s co-MVP in 1979.30 After being cut, he asked, “What must I do to make this club?”31

Hancock was less philosophical than Bowen. “I think I’ll take a week or two off before I report. They said they’d call last year, and it never happened.”32

After he sent Hancock down, Zimmer told the Boston Globe’s Peter Gammons, “I feel sick for him.”33

Spring was not a complete disappointment, however. On March 10, 1980, a son, Justin Kendall Hancock was born to Garry and wife Kathy.

Hancock’s performance with Pawtucket in 1980 declined. His batting average was down 84 points. On June 22 he was batting .241 with six HRs and 19 RBIs.34

Then a string of injuries provided opportunity. On June 21, Jim Rice was hit on the wrist by a Chris Knapp pitch in a game against the Angels at Fenway. Bone chips in the wrist resulted in Rice’s placement on the injured list. Hancock moved into his roster spot on June 22.35 Rice was out until July 27.

On August 28, Lynn fouled a 2-2 pitch by Oakland’s Steve McCatty off his big right toe, fracturing the bone.36 He was finished for the season. Two days later Yastrzemski ran into the left-field wall after catching a liner hit by Jim Essian of the A’s. The 41-year-old had a partial fracture of the ribs.37 Yaz got into only three more games in 1980.

After seeing Hancock bat only .200 in his first 20 games through July 31, Zimmer did not play him much in August. But in September and early October he played in 23 games, starting 16times,12 of them in centerfield. He raised his batting average to .287. He hit four home runs, all of them at Fenway.

Peter Gammons summed it up this way, “In 1980, when given a chance to play regularly for 74 at-bats in September, he hit .338 with four homers and 15 RBIs (to finish at .287), batted .372 with men on base and .370 with runners in scoring position. He is an above-average outfielder with above average speed and a good arm.”38

Hancock had set himself up beautifully for a run at making the Red Sox in 1981. Besides posting a red-hot September, he added 12 pounds of muscle in the offseason and earned the blessing of Ted Williams, who had once told him he was all arms and swung indiscriminately. In the spring of 1981, Williams became convinced Hancock was a major leaguer.39

Ralph Houk would be the decision maker now. For the 1981 season, Rice was set to play the outfield with two Gold Glover winners– Dwight Evans and Rick Miller. Reid Nichols, also considered to be an excellent centerfielder, was present as a backup. So was Joe Rudi, having arrived in Boston in a January trade that sent Fred Lynn to the Angels. That left a spot for one spare outfielder, and Houk would decide between Tom Poquette and Hancock.40

After a March 29 game in which Hancock doubled, homered, and raised his spring average to.343, Gammons wrote in the Globe that Hancock had made a tremendous impression on Houk.41

When the season started on April 10, Hancock joined Miller and Nichols as the new outfielders on the 25-man roster. Poquette started the season on the injured list.42

The team slogged along in April, May, and June. By May 12, they were 13-14, having spent 15 days below.500. Houk righted the ship somewhat and the Sox were 30-26 on June 11.

June 11 was the last day that major-league baseball games were played until August 10. The season was halted by a players’ strike. Free-agent signing compensation was the unresolved issue. The players settled into a self-imposed vacation for the duration of the work stoppage.

To that point in the season, Hancock was used in just eight of the 56 games the Red Sox played before the strike. He had seven plate appearances and went hitless in five at-bats. Houk relied heavily on Rice, Miller, and Evans in left, center, and right field, with Yastrzemski as designated hitter.

Hancock, like his teammates, settled into a holding pattern and waited for the negotiations to progress. He played golf with Fisk and Miller. He did not believe the players were asking for anything more than to hold onto what they had already earned. He felt the owners started the trouble and that the stoppage hurt the Red Sox just as they had begun playing well.43

After the 60-day labor dispute was settled and the Red Sox returned to play on August 10, Hancock reprised his role as a pinch-hitter and part-time outfielder. He struggled. He posted a .156 batting average for the season. Hancock suspected he was the only Red Sox position player in history to be on the club for an entire season and not get a hit at Fenway Park.44

Heading into the 1982 season Hancock believed he had proved his value as a spare outfielder, not in the awkward 1981 strike season, but in 1980. To play regularly as a major leaguer the 28-year-old outfielder welcomed a trade. Hancock felt he had nothing left to prove. He did not want to be sent back down for a fourth season in Pawtucket.45

Hancock was optioned to Pawtucket on April 1, 1982.46 This did not sit well with him. Before the demotion he told the press, “I think I’m going down and I’ll be angry, not bitter, but angry.”47

Angry or not, Hancock produced for the PawSox in 1982, with a .294 batting average, 21 home runs, 71 RBIs, and 27 assists (20 at first base and seven in the outfield).He was called up to Boston after the Pawtucket season ended and used mostly as a pinch-hitter in 11 games. He did not get a hit in 14 at-bats for Boston.

On December 6, 1982, Hancock was traded to Oakland with Carney Lansford and Jerry King for Tony Armas and Jeff Newman.48

Hancock was coming to an A’s team with a talented outfield that included future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson in left field, Gold Glove winner Dwayne Murphy in centerfield and Mike Davis in right field.

Getting regular playing time in the outfield was unlikely. The Oakland fly chasers played with distinction. Henderson batted .292, scored 105 runs and stole 108 bases. Murphy batted .227 with 75 RBIs and won his fourth Gold Glove. Davis batted .275, stole 32 bases, and had 15 assists.

But A’s manager Steve Boros included Hancock on his list of players vying in spring for the first-base job.49 Hancock, 29 years old, saw himself at a career crossroads. He said if he could not cut it with the A’s he would retire. “I won’t play a roster game. I feel comfortable at first. I just want to play hardball and open up some eyes. The best man will win the job,” he told the press.50

Hancock then amassed more playing time than he ever had. He played in the outfield in 67 games, at first base in 27 games, and was the DH in eight games. His finished the year with a .273 batting average, eight home runs, 30 RBIs and 29 runs scored in 256 at-bats. According to the San Francisco Examiner, he batted .500 as a pinch-hitter, .300 as a DH, and was second toughest to strike out in the American League behind Mickey Hatcher.51

Hancock played well and Boros recognized it. “You never find out where the hot bat is until you play everybody on the bench,” said Boros. “I’m not playing guys to soothe egos. I didn’t give Hancock the first base job. He earned it.”52

Hancock said this about his situation. “I never doubted my ability to hit the ball. I only doubted other people giving me a chance to hit.”53

By February 6, Hancock had signed for 1984.What lay ahead for the soon-to-be aged 30 Hancock was another reduction in playing time.

In spring training he batted .429 in the Cactus League.54 Boros, who was fired as manager on May 23, and Jackie Moore, his successor, utilized Hancock sparingly during the regular season. From April 3 to July 30, Hancock played in 39 games, getting just one plate appearance in 29 of them. He was up and down from the minors and injured at different times, too.

He was released to Tacoma on June 29, optioned back to Oakland on July 16, placed on the supplemental disabled list on July 31, reinstated to the A’s roster on August 31, and released on October 22.55

Hancock did have one memorable game in 1984. On June 25, with a 16-0 blowout of the A’s by the Royals underway, Hancock was sent into pitch with two out in the seventh inning. He recorded four consecutive outs. Bill Almon, who played catcher only once in his 15-yearmajor-league career, was Hancock’s batterymate in the eighth inning. Eliciting two groundball outs and two flyball outs, Hancock retired Steve Balboni, Leon Roberts, Don Slaught, and Greg Pryor, setting his entry in the record book at a perfect 0.00 lifetime ERA.56

Royals reliever Dan Quisenberry later quipped, “With his confidence and his ability, there’s no reason he shouldn’t win the Cy Young Award within the next two years…He knows it. The people around the league know it. It’s just a matter of his pitching up to his potential.”57

Garry Hancock finished his last season in professional baseball on September 30, 1984. For the year he batted .217 with no home runs and eight RBIs in 60 total at-bats.

After his release Hancock retired. He later explained that the A’s wanted him to accept a role that might include an assignment in Triple A. “Maybe I made the manager mad, but I told him it wasn’t going to be like this. I had worked nearly ten years to build up seniority and work toward an acceptable salary. To have it cut down like they wanted was something I just couldn’t take.”58

Hancock settled into life after baseball in Florida. The Hancocks were by then a family of four. Daughter Courtney arrived three years after their son, Justin, in 1983. Garry became his own boss, operating irrigation and landscaping businesses.

Garry Hancock passed at the age of 61 on October 10, 2015. He may have died from cancer. His obituary stated that memorial donations could be made to the Moffitt Cancer Center.

No mention of baseball is made in his obituary. He is buried at Serenity Meadows Memorial Park in Riverview, Florida.59

Garry Hancock’s footstone has two photographs, one is a portrait of the player, the other an image of his 1982 Topps baseball card showing him in his Red Sox home uniform. The footstone is inscribed: “Loving and Dearly Loved Husband, Father, Red Sox, Coach, & ‘Mayor of Buckhorn.’”60

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Nowlin and Bruce Harris and fact-checked by Brad Cuprik.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the notes, the author made use of statistics from baseball-reference.com.

Notes

1 Obituary of Lawrence L. Hancock, Tampa Tribune, December 27, 2005: 3.

2 Obituary of Norma Ilene Hancock, Tampa Tribune, August 23, 1989: 12.

3 Jeff Smith, “Area Has Share of Hotshots,” Tampa Times, June 22, 1972: 33.

4 Smith, “Another Chance,” Tampa Times, April 26, 1972: 20.

5 Smith, “All County Teams,” Tampa Times, June 4, 1972: 38.

6 Tribune Wire Service, “Texas Picks HCC’s Hancock in Draft,” Tampa Tribune, June 7, 1974: 37.

7 “In the Area/Private Club League,” Tampa Tribune, June 22, 1974: 38.

8 Wedding notices, Tampa Tribune, July 7, 1974: 108.

9 Rudy Jones, “Richardson Feels Gamecocks Have Bright Future,” Greenville News, June 16, 1975: 15.

10 AP, “Tribe Inks Hancock,” Greenville News, January 10, 1976: 13.

11 1979 Red Sox Media Guide: 13.

12 Russell Schneider, “Near Bankrupt Injuns Gain Financial Muscle,” The Sporting News, December 31, 1977: 53.

13 Peter Gammons, “This Could Be Orioles Year…,” Boston Globe, March 26, 1978: 78.

14 Gammons, “Willoughby Peddled to White Sox,” Boston Globe, April 6, 1978: 41.

15 International League, The Sporting News, May 12, 1978: 37.

16 International League, The Sporting News, June 17, 1978: 33.

17 International League, The Sporting News, July 8, 1978: 42.

18 Bob Ryan, “Yaz takes a few swings,” Boston Globe, July 30, 1978: 34.

19 Larry Whiteside, “Lynn on Bench, Left Ankle Acting Up,” Boston Globe, July 28, 1978: 32.

20 Peter Gammons, “Sox Win On Balk, 8-6,” Boston Globe, August 18, 1978: 23.

21 Tom McEwen, “Season’s Over For Philosophical Hancock,” Tampa Tribune, October 5, 1978: 41.

22 Bill Bretti, Boston Globe photo, October 3, 1978: 29.

23 Matt Bozek, “Garry Hancock: East Hillsborough’s Man In The Majors,” Tampa Tribune, February 24, 1979: 62.

24 Bozek.

25 “Touching all the bases,” Orlando Sentinel, April 3, 1979: 47.

26 International League, The Sporting News, July 14, 1979: 51.

27 International League, The Sporting News, September15, 1979: 31.

28 Jim Selman, “Hancock’s Chance Slim At Boston,” Tampa Tribune, March 18, 1980: 13.

29 UPI, “Red Sox Trim Nine From Roster,” Bennington Banner, April 3, 1980: 15.

30 Frank Harraway, “Class AAA Previews,” The Sporting News, April 26, 1980: 36.

31 Joe Giuliotti, “Radar Bosox’ New Fisk Insurance,” The Sporting News, April 19, 1980: 30.

32 Giuliotti.

33 Peter Gammons, “Cuts Irk Stapleton, Hancock,” Boston Globe, April 3, 1980: 42.

34 International League, The Sporting News, July 12, 1980: 46.

35 Joe Giuliotti, “Red Sox Mainspring?” The Sporting News, July 5, 1980: 37.

36 Larry Whiteside, “Lynn Out For At Least 10 Days,” Boston Globe, August 30, 1980: 22.

37 Larry Whiteside, “Yaz Fractures Rib,” Boston Globe, August 31, 1980: 23.

38 Peter Gammons, “Hancock Hoping For Spot,” Boston Globe, March 12, 1981: 60.

39 Gammons, “Hancock Hoping For Spot.”

40 Peter Gammons, “Sox Get Ready To Play Numbers Game,” Boston Globe, March 30, 1981: 29.

41 Gammons, “Sox Get Ready To Play Numbers Game.”

42 Peter Gammons, “The old…and the new,” Boston Globe, April 9, 1981: 70.

43 Jim Selman, “Summer Of Their Discontent,” Tampa Tribune, July 10, 1981: 4C.

44 Peter Gammons, “It’s MVP Time and this vote goes to…,” Boston Globe, October 1, 1981: 78.

45 Peter Gammons, “Trade for Rawley hits a snag,” Boston Globe, April 1, 1982: 32.

46 Peter Gammons, “Options are called,” Boston Globe, April 2, 1982: 46.

47 AP, “Sox set for final roster cuts,” North Adams Transcript, April 1, 1982: 12.

48 Peter Gammons, “Red Sox trade Lansford to A’s,” Boston Globe, December 7, 1982: 71.

49 Glen Schwarz, “Boros Seeks Answers at First,” San Francisco Examiner, March 1, 1983: 42.

50 Glen Schwarz, “Who’s on first?,” San Francisco Examiner, March 1, 1983: 41.

51 “A’s Roster,” San Francisco Examiner, April 1, 1984: 34.

52 Glen Schwarz, “Hancock proves he belongs in lineup…”, San Francisco Examiner, July 30, 1983: 31.

53 Schwarz, “Hancock proves he belongs in lineup…”

54 Glen Schwarz, “Decision time for Giants, A’s,” San Francisco Examiner, March 27, 1984: D1.

55 The Sporting News player contract card for Garry Hancock, accessed November 23, 2020 at https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll3/id/79040/.

56 Kit Stier, “Morgan passes Hornsby mark….,”The Sporting News, July 9, 1984: 30.

57 Peter Gammons, “Pitching inflates Twins…,” The Sporting News, July 16, 1984: 42.

58 Chuck Mulling, “Gee aren’t you…Garry Hancock?,” Tampa Tribune, August 15, 1987: 24.

59 Obituary of Ronald Garry Hancock, Tampa Bay Times, October 14, 2013: 17.

60 Photo 4 of 4, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153994330/garry-hancock, accessed November 25, 2020.