During his last game at AT&T Park, Hunter Pence exited in a way only he could -- on a motorized scooter. It was the appearance of a young soul who wanted to soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible.
At the time, it was presumed that was going to be his last game as a member of the Giants. But nobody knew for sure, including Pence.
With the three-time All-Star recently agreeing to a minor league deal with the Rangers, he reflected on the seven seasons he spent as a member of the Giants in a touching essay entitled "Gr8ful" to The Player's Tribune.
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When he thought about his time with the team, he said it gave him goosebumps.
"I have grown so much over the six and a half years I was a part of this franchise," Pence wrote. "One thing I know is that if I didn’t feel comfortable being myself and wasn’t in such an accepting environment I don’t think I would have had the guts to give such an outlandish speech. Thank you for that."
Being a Giant, Pence felt like the team was unstoppable.
"As Giants we had a bit of a superpower, a secret weapon, so to speak. It was the unity, support, and acceptance which you guys fueled us all with every day."
San Francisco Giants
He talked about the moment his golden scooter got stolen while he was at dinner. This wasn't the main part of the retelling of the story, but the fact that his M.I.A. scooter gained so much traction it "became a ticker on ESPN."
The ticker went from saying the scooter was missing to it had been found.
This was just one of many stories Pence seemed to smile about as he thought about the countless moments he spent with the organization.
He also talked on the Travis Ishikawa home run in Game 5 of the NLCS to send the Giants to the World Series and a beautiful moment that was so vivid, he could tell you what colors the sky was.
"I don’t remember the exact inning and I don’t remember the exact score, all I know is it was late in Game 6 against the Cardinals and Vogelsong was on the mound," he wrote. "The sun was setting. The sky was a mix of purple, blue, orange, red, and yellow, a color combo like I had never seen before. Vogey was in that zone that he gets into where you can literally feel his intensity. You could feel he knew exactly where every pitch was going, and you could feel he knew exactly where he wanted to throw it.
"The entire stadium was chanting, “VOGEY! VOGEY! VOGEY! VOGEY!” and he didn’t even flinch. It was as if he couldn’t even hear it, he was so dialed in. I looked behind me and the fans in right field were shaking the fence so hard I’m pretty sure they broke it and easily could have charged the field in the middle of the game."
Chills.
He ended the trip down memory lane with thank you's and hopes that those who read it felt as much joy ("even a tiny bit") he experienced.
"I love you all and always will. Your good friend, Hunter Pence."