After high school, he was selected in the fourth round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, but did not sign.

On April 29, 2007, Hancock was killed in a motor vehicle accident when the 2007 Ford Explorer he was driving while intoxicated struck the rear of a flat bed tow truck at 12:35 a.m. Central Time.

[2][3][4][5][6] A police report revealed that Hancock was intoxicated at the time of his fatal accident with a blood-alcohol level of 0.157, nearly double the legal limit in Missouri.

Hancock's death marked the second time in five years a player for the Cardinals died during the baseball season, the first being of pitcher Darryl Kile in 2002 with a coronary artery blockage.

Hancock was the second active MLB player to be killed in an accident in less than a year, after the plane crash of Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle.

Three days earlier, his teammates were concerned when they could not reach Hancock after he had overslept and had not shown up for the game on time, likening it to the events leading up to the sudden death of Kile.

[10] In 2006, after Esteban Loaiza was arrested for drunk driving, Oakland A's GM Billy Beane banned alcohol in both clubhouses, saying it was a liability issue.

[12] On May 31, 2007, the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control announced results of an investigation revealed no wrongdoing on the part of employees at Mike Shannon's Steaks and Seafood restaurant in Hancock's death.