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.
But he had another assignment there.
To keep his eye on Terrance Gore, then-general manager Dayton Moore told Hosmer.
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 — base-running whirlwind — that Moore fretted could create resentment.
As Hosmer brought up that time days after Gore’s shattering death last week at age 34 from complications after an appendectomy, 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.
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’d 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.
“But all those little things we tried to do were unnecessary,” Hosmer said Wednesday. “Because Terrance, from that first time he went in to pinch-run, he was just absolutely fearless.”
That spirit perhaps belied Gore’s 5-foot-7 stature and freshfaced appearance. Teammates called him “G-Baby” for his resemblance to a beloved character in the movie “Hardball.”
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: “That’s what speed do.”
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.
“He could take over a game in the moment,” said Moore, now the Texas Rangers’ senior advisor of baseball operations. “He controlled the matchup. There was no stopping him. And everybody knew it.”
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 … infield single … without so much as a play at the plate.
All these years later, Moore and Hosmer and countless others still cherish Gore’s moments on the field. Like the three World Series rings he’d earn (also with the Dodgers and Braves) and how his stolen bases, extra bases and implied threat rattled so many opponents.
But all these years later, the ripples they really feel are the personal ones on the eve of Gore’s funeral Saturday at Hiland Park Baptist Church in Panama City, Fla. Players and coaches are being encouraged to wear jerseys to the service.
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.
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.
And beyond, as it happens. Asked by The Star in a Facebook message if others were welcome to send messages on baseballs, Cat 5 said it would be “honored 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.
“We hope that reading these messages comforts them and continues his legacy.”
(Baseballs or softballs can be sent to Cat 5 Sports Facility, 243 Commercial Drive, Panama City, FL 32405.)
As Hosmer first began speaking of Gore, he thought back to spring training in Arizona in 2015 — shortly after the birth of Zane, the oldest of three children Gore was raising with his wife, Britney.
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’s arrival in the world.
He had a new purpose in life, stressed Dyson — who last week commemorated Gore with a social media post of them celebrating after a game adapted to feature a halo over Gore’s head and a broken heart before Dyson.
“‘This is somebody you’re going to look after your whole entire life, and he’s going to look up to you his whole entire life,’” Hosmer recalled Dyson saying.
Last year, Gore and his family attended a Royals reunion to celebrate the anniversaries of the 1985 and 2015 championship teams.
