Terrance Gore: Baseball’s Greatest Winner
By: Rex Kaplan
Tags: MLB, Sports, Dodgers, Baseball, Athletes

Terrance Gore: Baseball’s Greatest Winner

Terrance Gore is a simple man. He makes smart choices. He chills, he runs, and he wins. He wins a lot. Rex Kaplan Dec 14, 2021·4 min read

Photo by Dilip Vishwanat

Atop the list of players with the most World Series rings since 2015, one man stands alone. He’s won three championships with three different teams despite only having 67 career at-bats, and has recorded only 15 career base hits with zero home runs. An even more difficult feat? He’s won two rings since the last time he had a Major League plate appearance.

Terrance Gore is a weapon that playoff teams love to have due his elite speed and base running skills. Now 30-years-old, he stands 5’7” without a particularly eye-catching swing or plate presence. His baseball card would be most fitting with the title “Pinch Runner.” Even being the statistical anomaly that he is, Gore is a player worth appreciating. Here’s why:

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Gore, a football and baseball star growing up in Macon, Georgia, was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 20th round of the 2011 MLB draft out of Gulf Coast Community College — where he hit .330 and stole a whopping 51 bags.

Gore, only the 16th player in MLB history to wear the number 0 on his back, debuted with the Royals late in 2014. He played in 20 total games in ’14 and ’15, compiling only six total plate appearances while primarily pinch-running. He stole eight bases.

After seeing his first postseason action in ’14, where Kansas City fell short in the World Series, Gore stole a bag in the ’15 playoffs where he appeared twice as his team went on to win it all — his first ring.

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Gore bounced around the minors and majors with the Royals, plus a season in Chicago with the Cubs, until 2019. He played in a career-high 37 games, totaling 58 PA’s with 14 hits (a .275 BA), 1 RBI (the only in his professional career), and a .362 OBP — helping him nab 13 bases. Kansas City struggled, however, and their season ended early.

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Prior to the 2020 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Gore to a Minor League deal. Because of COVID-19, there was no MiLB season; however, Gore was kept around and ultimately joined the roster late in the season. He pinch-ran in two games, then was added to the Dodgers WC and NLDS roster. He didn’t see any playing time in October, though LA went on to win the Fall Classic — earning Gore his second ring.

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Gore earned himself another Minor League contract ahead of Opening Day in 2021, heading close to home and joining the Atlanta Braves. He had a fine year in the minors, remaining there all regular season, but was put on the Braves NLDS roster where he made his debut with the Major League squad. He had one appearance, pinch-running, but that was all. Atlanta, of course, went on to prevail, winning a World Championship — a third ring for Gore.

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Gore has one talent that teams find extremely valuable: he is unbelievably fast. His sprint speed and base-stealing ability has kept him around winning teams, and his will to embrace a bench role has payed off. Gore, along with two-time teammate Joc Pederson, became the ninth (and tenth) players in MLB history to win back-to-back World Series’ with different teams.

Let’s compare some numbers.

Gore career:

RBI — 1

HR — 0

HBP — 3

XBH — 3

Championship Rings: 3

Photo by Ed Zurga

You want to be remembered? Win titles.

Gore has done just that. He enters his eighth professional season as a free-agent. Perhaps where he decides to sign could dictate the outcome of the 2022 season… I guess we’ll have to wait and see. For now, we should all appreciate one of the many oddities and gifts that the game of baseball provides. Gore is like no one else, and it is awesome.