(USA TODAY Sports Images)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Giants outfielder Hunter Pence homered in Game 1 of the 2014 World Series on Tuesday night, adding another postseason highlight to a career that already includes a World Series ring from the Giants’ 2012 campaign.
Here are nine reasons Hunter Pence is the most interesting man in the World Series:
1. He plays ugly
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
Nothing Pence does on the baseball field looks smooth. He swings like a gangly teenager trying to imitate great hitters of the 1920s in a Wiffleball game. Early in Pence’s career, scouts joked that he plays the outfield “like a stork.” But the best description of Pence’s unusual aesthetic comes from excellent Giants blogger Grant Brisbee:
Runs like a rotary phone thrown into a running clothes dryer. Throws like an effete Frenchman throwing a bookcase uphill. Swings a bat like his elbows are stapled to his knees and his underwear is pulled over his head. Stares at you while you aren’t looking.
It’s all true.
2. He knows it
Pence showed he has a sense of humor about his strange style in the hilarious video above. Skills include “running during an earthquake” and “throwing like you don’t have an elbow,” and Pence compared his antic hitting style to “a hungry man chasing a taco.”
3. And he’s got an excuse
(GIF via MLB.com)
A FOX Sports report during the NLCS revealed that Pence suffers from Scheuermann’s Disease, a spinal disorder that left him with no flexibility in his thoracic spine. It obviously hasn’t prevented him from becoming a professional athlete, and Pence wasn’t even aware of the condition until a physical he took before he signed his five-year, $90 million extension with the Giants in 2013.
4. He rides a scooter to work
(PHOTO: MLB.com screengrab)
Pence rides an electric scooter to Giants’ home games at AT&T Park. His mode of transport became famous when his scooter went missing from outside a nearby restaurant. The missing scooter was eventually returned, but not before Pence bought a second one. Now, he’s selling the first to benefit charity. And his scoot-by photobomb game is remarkable:
5. He’s a great motivator
Pence is one of the Giants’ most vocal players, and frequently leads “Yes! Yes! Yes!” chants inspired by WWE wrestler Daniel Bryan. When the Giants celebrate winning postseason series, look for Pence in the middle of the champagne scrum, rallying the troops.
6. He looks like Bill S. Preston, esq.
Most triumphant.
7. He’s everyone’s favorite whipping boy
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
Pence became the subject of one of this season’s most entertaining baseball trends around early August, when opposing fans started arriving to parks bearing signs playfully mocking him for mild offenses. In the Giants’ Game 1 win on Tuesday, Pence’s homer landed right in front of a pair of Hunter Pence signs.
(Screengrab via Reddit)
8. And he doesn’t care
After the Hunter Pence signs caught on, Pence appeared in a rap video confirming many of the rumors as fact. He does eat pizza with a fork and use mild sauce at Taco Bell. This is a lesson Royals fans learned on Tuesday: Do not troll Hunter Pence, for Hunter Pence is the troll king. He will win every time.
9. He’s actually good
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
This is probably the most important — and perhaps most shocking — thing about Pence: He’s really good at baseball. The 31-year-old has been one of the league’s steadiest performers since he debuted in 2007, and he has averaged 159 games a season in his seven full years in the big leagues. No particular skill stands out, but he’s good for 20-25 homers a season, he steals some bases, and he plays fine defense in right field.
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