We just debuted “McDeep Dive”, our new series that will spotlight one Giants player every day for a week. We’ll move backwards and forwards through time, look at on the field stuff, off the field stuff, and see if we can learn something new about them. Here’s part 6 of this week’s subject, Hunter Pence.
As some of you may know, Hunter Pence’s wife Alexis has a YouTube channel called Let’s Get Lexi. Hunter has made many cameos over the years, and today I thought we’d take a look at some of the best videos he co-stars in.
The Pences love coffee and spend a lot of their free time reviewing coffee. Like, a lot of time. They review coffee by themselves and sometimes with teammates and friends. For Hunter, it seems like a lot of his teammates are his friends. He’s just that kind of guy.
Anyway, they love coffee so much that they opened their own coffee/game shop called Coral Sword in Houston and it looks like a fun place to hang out!
In their travels, Hunter and Alexis went to Hobbiton in New Zealand and Hunter was having the time of his life, though he seems to always be having the time of his life. It’s one of his most enviable qualities. He was also an actual giant, since the actors who played the hobbits in the “Lord of the Rings” movies were all closer to Alexis’ height than his.
There is also bonus Zorbing content. Which is both fun to say and fun to watch.
They do normal stuff, too, like grocery shopping. In this video, they attempt a practical joke at the grocery store that is so painfully real. We all want to believe we are capable of the big heist, but are we really?
And like many of us, they are huge fans of the show Game of Thrones. They even do weekly recap episodes with teammates and opposing players.
They do normal YouTube things, too, including challenges. Like this Bad Joke Challenge. Which you would think Alexis would have in the bag, but Hunter turns out to be a better actor than you might have thought.
There’s baseball content as well. Like this video, where Hunter talks about some of the things he hears from fans as an outfielder.
In 2016, Alexis chronicled Hunter and the Giants’ post-season endeavors and it was really fun to kind of get a behind the scenes look at the joys of winning in October. Though the team was ultimately unsuccessful in their championship bid that season, in this video we get to see that, despite popular opinion, teams actually do get excited about winning a Wild Card spot.
In this video, Alexis and Hunter use a white board to illustrate by hand the story of how they met and it was both funny and cute.
Which led to their engagement video, and ultimately to their wedding.
Here’s one of the things that makes people like Hunter Pence so much: he shares more of himself than anyone has a right to expect from him. Through Alexis’ channel, we get to know them both and see the ups and downs of their lives. From injuries and minor league rehab stints to huge moments of success and happiness, they are open books in a lot of ways. I think that makes many people want to root for them more and want to see Hunter succeed because he makes people feel like they are his friends, even if you’ve never met him.
Many people complain about sentimentality in sports. They bemoan the fans or organization members who are attached to players who they feel may be past their prime. They get joy out of sports from viewing things as though they are the manager or the person in charge of day to day operations and thinking they could to a better job. Do you.
But many people don’t see sports that way. They see the players they love. And when you see Hunter Pence the human being, you can see why people gravitate towards him and want to see him leave it all on the field at AT&T Park for as long as he can. You can see why his teammates lost their minds this week when he got the big walk-off moment.
Hunter appears to actually be every good thing everyone says about him and more. He’s got heart and the drive to do everything he can to succeed. And from all accounts, he’s an awesome teammate, a great husband and friend, and a really good and positive person. That seems rare these days when we often encounter an overwhelming amount of cynicism in the world.
Also, he’s always been my Nana’s favorite player since we converted her from being an A’s fan. And you know what? I think he’s the kind of person who would be pretty stoked to hear that. So I don’t fault any fans who want to hold on to him for as long as they can. He’s a Good Giant and a good dude.