A man claiming to have convinced acquaintances to return San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence’s scooter collected a reward from Lefty O’Doul’s this afternoon, the bar’s manager said.
The scooter was taken from outside the Epic Roasthouse along the Embarcadero after the Giants’ win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.
Pence has been riding around the city on the battery-powered scooter since shortly after joining the Giants in a 2012 trade.
He had left the scooter, which is black with orange decals of Pence’s name and his jersey number 8, unlocked outside the restaurant while eating there and later found it was gone.
The scooter was returned undamaged on Wednesday after news reports of a reward from both Epic Roasthouse and Lefty O’Doul’s were circulated.
Lefty O’Doul’s manager John Fair said the man called the bar at about 2 p.m. today to collect the reward and arrived at 4:35 p.m.
The man told Fair he had heard about the reward on the radio and had seen the scooter in his neighborhood. He said they had planned to sell it but he convinced the theives to turn it in to police, Fair said.
Fair said he tried to pry more details out of the man but could sense he did not want to answer further questions and complied with the condition of the reward, “no questions asked.”
The man collected $200 cash, two drink tickets and two meal tickets.
“I’m sure he’ll be back on a busy day—mix in with the crowd,” Fair said.
The bar has received no other calls about the scooter, he said.
Epic Roasthouse had also offered a dinner for two as a reward and Pence offered a signed bobblehead of himself riding the missing scooter in exchange for the safe return of the stolen goods.
