But 12 years ago, Tebow was a.494-hitting, all-county outfielder who loved hitting a baseball every bit as much as he loved leading a huddle.
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The New York Mets’ announcement that they’re signing Tim Tebow to a minor league contract elicited the predictable array of snark and sarcasm from the team’s fans on social media.
His climb will begin in Port St. Lucie, Fla., home of the Mets’ spring training facility, where he’ll get a crash course in professional baseball and participate in instructional league games.
The Mets’ Double-A club is the Binghamton (N.Y.) Mets in the Eastern League and Triple-A is the Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League. John Coppolella the general manager of the Atlanta Braves confirmed early in the week that the Braves were interested in signing Tebow and had held a number of conversations with representatives of Tebow in a move towards signing the athlete to a pro contract.
Tebow hasn’t played baseball since his junior year in high school. Tebow had preseason workouts with the New England Patriots in 2013 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015. The Mets reportedly are allowing Tebow to continue to work his “day job” as a college football analyst for SEC Network.
While Tebow said this isn’t about money, he has been trying to capitalize on the newly found interest in him and his possible baseball career. Again this deal has no bad features, the Mets really lose nothing if Tebow does not work out but could gain a huge return if he does.
After his workout last week, Tebow told reporters that his goal was to forge a successful major league career, and not just simply make it to the major leagues. That helps fuel the perception of the Tebow signing as a circus, publicity stunt, dog-and-pony show and all the other derogatory terms that will be used to characterize it in the coming weeks and months.
Before we go any further, let me say that I have no issue with Tebow’s pursuing a baseball career and no issue with the Mets’ signing him.
Tebow did impress with his raw physicality and his running ability was in the ballpark for a major league baserunner.
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So, it is a return to the Big Apple for Tebow, who played for the Jets in the National Football League, even if it is really in the uniform of the Denver Broncos as the quarter amounted to status of American sensation.
