Ryan Lee Hancock (born November 11, 1971) is a retired professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player who played one season for the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. On June 9, 1996, he was one of two

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

s to get a hit during the 1996 season. The other AL pitcher to get a hit that year was

Roger Clemens William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...

on May 23. He was drafted by the Angels right out of high school but turned it down so he could play both football and baseball for Brigham Young University. At BYU, he was a 3rd string quarterback who ended up getting his chance to play after the starter and 2nd string were injuries early on in the season. After he suffered a devastating ACL injury in the last game of the regular season, Ryan focused solely on baseball. After his sophomore year, he was drafted by the Anaheim Angels once again. Ryan played in the Minor leagues until his first Major League game on June 8, 1996. Ryan was offered to play in Japan with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, so he took their offer and played in Japan for one season.

References

Major League Baseball pitchers California Angels players Baseball players from California 1971 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Japan Zion Pioneerzz players Anchorage Bucs players Boise Hawks players Erie SeaWolves players Lake Elsinore Storm players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Midland Angels players Vancouver Canadians players BYU Cougars baseball players BYU Cougars football players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub