Rehabbing Hunter Pence enjoys being target of fans’ humorous signs

Surprisingly, there were no Hunter Pence signs spotted Thursday night at Cashman Field, where the rehabbing San Francisco Giants right fielder homered in his second straight game for the Sacramento River Cats.

Last season, Hunter Pence signs — which featured countless clever, humorous insults such as “Hunter Pence can’t parallel park,” and “Hunter Pence played Marv from Home Alone” — became a sensation at big league ballparks and on Twitter, where people would post tweets under #HunterPenceSigns.

“It was definitely a wild season, as far as all the entertaining signs. Every city I went to had unique stuff,” Pence said before going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer in Sacramento’s 6-5 win over the 51s before 5,703. “It was a unique experience to have that much attention. I definitely got a lot of the humor, and it made a lot of the good days very interesting and there were a lot of fun situations.”

A big “Seinfeld” fan, Pence inadvertently helped start the sign craze before a series against the Mets in August, when he posted a picture of himself at a New York City coffee shop with the Seinfeld-inspired caption, “These pretzels are making me thirsty.”

The tweet inspired two young Mets fans to bring their own New York-themed signs to Citi Field: “Hunter Pence puts ketchup on his hot dog,” and “Hunter Pence eats pizza with a fork.”

Other fans followed suit the next night, and when the Giants headed to Milwaukee to play the Brewers, Pence was again greeted by several signs, including one of his personal favorites: “Hunter Pence picks the hamburger in the hot dog race.”

The phenomenon followed him through Game 7 of the World Series in Kansas City, where a little girl held a “Hunter Pence thinks he’s in Kansas” sign.

Pence probably thought he was in heaven, batting .444 (12-for-27) with a homer and five RBIs in the World Series to help lead the Giants to their third world title in five years.

The three-time All-Star, who has reached base safely in 20 straight playoff games, has yet to make his 2015 season debut after suffering a fractured left forearm March 5, when he was hit by a pitch in spring training.

Pence, 32, is batting .294 (5-for-17) with two homers and five RBIs through five games of a rehab assignment for the River Cats. He crushed a two-run homer in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s 12-8 loss to Las Vegas. On Thursday, he reached on an infield single in the first, belted a two-run shot in the third and singled in the sixth.

“It’s feeling really good,” he said of his left forearm as he soaked it in a hot tub before Thursday’s game. “It’s just getting time in and working on the swing because the wrist is now good enough where it’s not really restricting me.

“Each and every one of those at-bats, I’m gaining something. I’m getting a little better.”

Since the Giants acquired Pence in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2012, he had appeared in 383 consecutive games, which was baseball’s longest ironman streak entering this season. Appearing in all 162 games in each of the past two seasons, Pence became the first Giants player to play in every game since Alvin Dark in 1954.

“I always said I was blessed, because you can’t control a ball hitting you wrong,” he said. “It’s definitely difficult going through the rehab process. You’re dealing with a lot of pain and a lot of work, and it’s very time-consuming to get it back going again.

“But I’m grateful we have such amazing trainers. I’m so happy to be feeling as good as I’m feeling right now.”

Dubbed “The Reverend” for the passionate pregame speeches his teammates have credited with helping San Francisco erase an 0-2 National League Division Series deficit to the Cincinnati Reds en route to winning the 2012 World Series, Pence believes his injury may turn out to be a blessing.

“That’s just my view on life, that everything happens for a reason and you don’t know the end from the beginning, so I try to find any positive I can,” he said. “All of life’s events and the things that happen, you have two ways of looking at them. You can look at them negatively or positively and see the good, so I look for victory where others see nothing.”

A Giants fan favorite for his all-out style of play and quirky personality — he rides an electric scooter a few blocks to and from AT&T Park for home games — the wide-eyed, bushy-haired Pence won the “Willie Mac” Award in 2013 as the team’s most inspirational player and also received the Darryl Kile “Good Guy” Award in 2008, when he was with the Houston Astros.

Pence — who graciously accepted the apology of Corey Black, the Cubs’ minor leaguer who threw the pitch that broke his arm — signed autographs for about 10 minutes before Thursday’s game at Cashman Field.

“There’s two types of players in this game. There’s humble players and those that are about to be,” Pence said. “My goal is to give everything I can. I love life, I try to give my best, and I try to do everything I can to be what I consider a good person.”

For the record, the health-conscious Pence doesn’t always eat hot dogs, but when he does, he doesn’t put ketchup on them.

“It’s usually mustard,” he said.

■ NOTES — The Pacific Coast League- leading 51s (24-11) rallied for five runs in the eighth before losing for only the third time in 21 games. ... Travis Ishikawa had three hits for Sacramento (18-17) and Hunter Strickland closed out the game with two perfect innings.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow him on Twitter: @tdewey33.