I love when famous people have stuff stolen from them. They’re often able to bribe the thieves into returning it with a meeting and an autograph.

San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence, who was acquired in a trade with Philly in 2012, had a customized motor scooter which he wrote a few blocks from home, to every home game. It was stolen outside a restaurant on the Embarcadero.

The scooter was always a hit with fans. One time the team even had bobblehead dolls of Pence on the scooter.

He parked it near a ramp where only the cooks to the restaurant enter. He even wondered why somebody would want such an old scooter with a charger that’s really rare.

Immediately, when he put this out on Twitter, lots of support came in, which made him feel better. He declined to file a police report and said he was willing to forgive the culprit. He said if it’s returned, he’d give the guy an autographed bobblehead and there would be “no questions asked.”

The scooter has custom stickers, his name, #8, and he always takes pictures with fans on it. He said, “It’s kind of an extension of me, and one of the few possessions I care about.”

The story got a little weirder when he used a back-up scooter he had. It can’t charge up enough to get him all the way to the ballpark, so he had to push the thing the last few blocks. That’s something I’m sure coaches and managers want their players doing before a game.

A few days later, the scooter had been returned. It was brought to the cops during the Giants’ 5-0 win over the Cubs. Apparently, the thief isn’t an autograph fan (or perhaps he didn’t trust Pence that the offer was real). Pence is still saying he’ll give the person an autograph and other memorabilia.

Pence also did what we’ve all done when we lost our wallets and cancelled all the credit cards and went to the DMV for a new license…only to find it in the cushion of the coach a few days later. He already ordered a new scooter. Now he says he might put the old one up for auction to raise money for charity.

The thief probably returned it for less charitable reasons. Manager Bruce Bochy joked, “I think whoever took it felt the pressure and said, ‘Hey, I’m out of here. I’m getting rid of this thing!”