Hancock

There is a rumor around South Carroll High School that Jeremy Hancock has been hitting vicious line drives since the day he was born.Not quite.But anybody who has ever seen the senior catcher stride to the plate, take a couple of practice swings and then dig in to face the pitcher realizes this 6-foot, 195-pound athlete is a natural hitter.Some days it is virtually impossible to get the Cavaliers' No. 4 hitter out.Like last Thursday when Hancock blistered Liberty pitching for a single, double, triple and five RBIs to raise his batting average to .593, on-base percentage to .621 and slugging percentage to 1.074.

Rayloc, an auto parts remanufacturer, will lay off 260 workers at its Western Maryland plant when it ends production there in mid-March, according to local officials. Rayloc, which a year ago employed more than 360 workers at the Hancock plant, is owned by Atlanta-based Genuine Parts Co. Rayloc remanufactures and distributes parts through the National Automotive Parts Association system, according to the company's 2006 annual report. Calls to the parent company were not returned yesterday.

ST. LOUIS From his customary open-air perch high above the Busch Stadium playing field, Mike Shannon was putting his own folksy finishing touch on another St. Louis Cardinals broadcast Thursday afternoon. It was a beautiful day at the ballpark, full of high skies, gentle breezes and good baseball, and you could hear Shannon's unmistakable voice cackling throughout every loudspeaker in the stadium's broad corridors. He sprinkled that familiar "Heh, hehh, hehhh," into every segment of the radio broadcast, then finished the day with a big and satisfied grin as the Cardinals completed a series sweep of the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.

HANCOCK'S RESOLUTION, Pasadena's unpolished link to post-Revolutionary America, will present an 19th-century craft day from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 8. Peggy Hanna, a longtime volunteer docent at the park, says the idea for the exhibition surfaced last year at a Friends of Hancock's Resolution volunteer meeting. Through her involvement at Magothy United Methodist Church - where Hancock family members have been members since the church's founding in 1777 - she was familiar with many crafts hobbyists who have carried on traditional arts that would have been part of daily life at the farm more than two centuries ago. "The crafts being demonstrated would not have been something the Hancock family would have done to have fun, but items or skills needed for daily living," Hanna said.

HERBIE HANCOCK: POSSIBILITIES / / Magnolia Home Entertainment / / $26.98 Throughout his career, spanning more than 40 years, Herbie Hancock has always resisted being pegged as one type of artist. At his core, he's a jazz man, composer of such standards as 1962's "Watermelon Man" and 1965's "Maiden Voyage." But like his former boss, Miles Davis, the Chi-Town native is a restless musical spirit whose scope includes bold, shifting elements of various genres. Classical, pop, bop, hip-hop, funk, R&B, the blues, folk, samba -- all have been explored and dismantled at different times in Hancock's music.

Richard A. Murray seemed at ease today after winning an $8.5 million jackpot in the Maryland Lotto."Everybody asked, 'How can you be so calm?' " the 69-year-old Hancock resident said. "I'm calm," his wife, 79-year-old Marianne, said.Maybe the big payoff hadn't sunk in. Maybe it's because, as the couple said, they've worked hard and lived a full, good life. The jackpot is like gravy, they said.One of their two sons, Hagerstown resident Michael Murray, said, "They deserve it. . . . But they already have a good life."

Richard A. Murray just won an $8.5 million jackpot in the Maryland Lotto. But you'd hardly know it."Everybody asked, 'How can you be so calm?' " the 69-year-old Hancock resident said yesterday at the Reisterstown Road headquarters of the Maryland Lottery Agency."

It was power against power yesterday.The power pitching of North Carroll's lefty Mike Huller against the power hitting of Jeremy Hancock and his South Carroll teammates.Huller won the tense battle in front of major league scouts from the Orioles and the Kansas City Royals who have been on Huller's trail since last fall when he compiled a 10-0 record for the Oriolelanders.Huller, a senior, pitched host North Carroll to a 5-2 victory.Huller allowed four hits, struck out 10 and walked five (one intentionally)

AFTER A LONG winter's sleep, Hancock's Resolution -- Pasadena's unpolished link to post-Revolution America -- will reopen to visitors Sunday. The county historic site will offer free tours conducted by docents from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays through October. The farmhouse and outbuildings -- which remain largely unimproved -- were constructed about 1785, but the property dates to earlier times. Ownership remained in the Hancock family until 1962. The county acquired the site several years ago and opened it to the public for the first time for tours from April through October.

THE FAIR SUNDAY at Hancock's Resolution will be no run-of-the-mill craft show. Instead, the event at the historic farmstead will feature craftsmen and craftswomen demonstrating skills that were part of farm life in the18th century. That includes everything from basket-making to beekeeping to the woodworking techniques used to build the Colonial-era farmhouse at the Pasadena landmark. "We will have something for everyone in the family," said Peggy Hanna, Friends of Hancock's Resolution member and event chair.