Buster OlneyFeb 7, 2026, 06:14 PM ETCloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on XMultiple Authors
Terrance Gore, a dynamic baserunner whose speed impacted postseason games for the better part of a decade, has died at age 34, the Kansas City Royals announced Saturday.
According to USA Today, Britney Gore, his wife, posted on social media that Gore died from complications after routine surgery. He leaves behind three children.
“Very sad to wake up and hear this,” said the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, one of many major league managers who deployed Gore as a pinch runner during his career. “He was as confident a base stealer as I’ve ever been around.”
Buck Showalter managed against Gore when the Baltimore Orioles faced the Royals in the playoffs and had Gore on his roster in 2022 when Gore was with the Mets.
Gore took batting practice daily and worked in the outfield before games. But Gore and his teammates knew how he would be used — if his team was down a run in the late innings, or if the score was tied, then he would be sent into the game as a pinch runner.
“If the score was tied and you got him into the game to run,” Showalter said, “it was like the game was over.”
Showalter mentioned that players such as Gore and Deion Sanders were different in their degree of speed. Some players are fast, Showalter said, but when Gore ran, it was at another gear.
“We knew we couldn’t throw him out,” he recalled. “He was a light slider, and then we would try to ride him off the base with the tag [since he sometimes popped up after reaching a base]. But if you just worked at trying to throw him out, forget it, it wasn’t going to happen.”
“His acceleration was amazing,” texted Dayton Moore, the former GM of the Royals. “He was fearless on the bases. He was in control of the matchup [on the bases] — I always worried that he’d hurt himself because he slid late and hard into bases.”
“He wasn’t satisfied with just being known for base stealing,” Moore said. “He worked extremely hard at trying to be an everyday guy.”
Gore had 85 plate appearances during his big-league career and batted .216. But in some Septembers and October, he led the majors in fear induced because of his speed. He was often added to rosters late in the regular season — first by the Royals and subsequently by the Chicago Cubs, Dodgers and New York Mets — to serve as a pinch runner, usually in the late innings of close games. He played in the big leagues in parts of eight seasons and in just 112 regular-season games and 11 more in the postseason, he stole 48 bases in 58 attempts.
Buster OlneyFeb 7, 2026, 06:14 PM ETCloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on X
Eric Hosmer was a teammate of Gore with the Royals.
“He knew exactly what I meant,” Roberts said. “He was a good teammate.”
“Absolutely brutal news,” he texted. “A great teammate.”