My First Cards

Is Gary Hancock standing there disgusted with you and turning his nose up like a bratty rich sissy, or is he lookin’ off daydreaming of having a better career? Considering he only played 11 games in ’82, he’s probably daydreaming of “what might have been”.

He’s probably thinking something like “how much playing time would I get if I were traded to…the Blue Jays?” Or maybe he’s dreaming of what it might be like to switch from being an outfielder to being a pitcher, and whether that would help his career more.

It all starts back in 1974, when Gary was a high valued prospect who was the 4th pick of the draft. He didn’t sign though, and spent the next two seasons being a 1st round pick for two other teams. He seemed to have potential that everybody wanted.

We’ll fast-forward to 1978 from here, when Gary was a 24 year old rookie trying to help the Red Sox win the AL East. In his first 18 games, he did pretty good, hitting .282. In that 18th game itself, he drove in 2 runs and had 3 hits to help the BoSox slip past the Angels 8-6. He’d done his part to keep the Red Sox 7.5 games up in 1st place.

After that game though, it was all downhill. Gary batted just .171, drawing only 1 walk for the rest of ’78. The Red Sox, they went from being a 77-44 club to a 22-20 one after that day. Gary didn’t even get in a game after September 24.

The next year, he spent the season in the minors dreaming of being a major league star while hitting pretty fine .325/.361/.505 in AAA.

When 1980 came, he got another shot at the majors but had trouble getting on base. Same dull story in ’81 too. So, back to Pawtucket he went until September ’82. Still daydreaming of the day…

Then, in 15 major league plate appearances in 1982, he didn’t get a single base hit. Not one. He had a -80 OPS+ for the season. Sure, it’s only a very small number of time at the plate, but at this point, wouldn’t you be thinking about becoming a pitcher? I would.

After the season, he was traded with Carney Lansford to Oakland. Gary spent 1983 playing 101 games in the A’s outfield, and hitting .273 with a 99 ERA+. So, he was just about as average as you could be.

Then came ’84, which was his final season. Although, before it was all over, it probably hit Gary like a ton of bricks that he should’ve been a pitcher all these years, but it was too late to turn around now. On June 25, 1984, he pitched a perfect 1 1/3 innings to finish the game. He induced 3 fly balls and a grounder. Unfortunately, the A’s lost 16-0.

One of those guys who might’ve just been in the wrong line of work all that time.