This idiot has finally given up on the NFL, so now he wants to try his hand at Major League Baseball. He hasn’t played baseball in 11 years, but wants to work out for MLB teams.
This fucking egomaniac just needs to go away. You want to play baseball? Go play for a novelty independent team like the St. Paul Saints where they love a good clown show.
Otherwise, accept the fact you’re done as a player. Become a megachurch preacher, a Republican politician, or continue to offer mediocre football commentary.
I’m pretty sure it’s all just lead up to the end game: celebrity preacher. Live large in the name of God, telling other people how to live. Nice gig if you can manage it.
Actually, baseball is a game that pure athletes have oftened excelled at, and while Tebow’s ability to throw a ball where he wants it has been in question, his athleticism is top 10% even for the NFL. He’s on Bo Jackson/Deion Sanders territory so certainly he’ll be comparable as a baseball player. So why not? He’s also still young and his presence would put butts in seats if he can play. Plus his arm strength is also top tier, so put him in the outfield and just make sure he can hit a cutoff man.
The downside is that he is potentially taking a minor league roster spot that should go to an up and coming prospect.
And I seriously question your evaluations of his athletic prowess. If he had that level of athletic capability, why was he complete washout in his chosen sport? I think putting Tebow in the same sentence or paragraph as Deion or Bo is stretching the realm of believability. Both were successes in football and baseball at the collegiate and professional levels.
Jackson was drafted by the NY Yankees out of high school, and played baseball at Auburn. Sanders was also drafted out of high school bya MLB team, the KC Royals. he played baseball at FSU on a top 10 ranked team. Tebow, played baseball in high school, and, while he attracted some baseball scout’s attention, his decision to focus on football meant he was never drafted by a MLB team.
So basically you have two guys (Jackson and Sanders) who played both sports through high school and D1 college before playing both sports professionally, and then on the other hand you have Tebow, who hasn’t played competitive baseball in 10 years.
He will be a sideshow. I don’t think he will ever get a whiff of making it to the show.
Sanders had a career OPS+ of 89. Jackson only managed a .309 OBP. Neither was a great baseball player, despite their undeniable athletic brilliance. Baseball is just different, and Tebow isn’t in the same universe as those two. On the other hand, Tebow might have the bat speed and reflexes that make a successful hitter. Who knows?
Agreed. I think that Michael Jordan’s baseball career may be a more apt comparison; like Tebow, Jordan hadn’t played baseball competitively since high school. For all of Jordan’s athleticism, he hit only .202 in a season with the White Sox’ Double-A affiliate.
Tebow may well have been a better baseball player in high school than Jordan was, but if he is able to make any sort of impact on the professional level (in the minors, much less the majors), I’ll be stunned.
I agree with you, leftfield6 – any baseball organization which brings him in is going to do so for the sideshow / publicity aspect, not because they think he has any real promise as a player.
Your (obvious) hate for Tebow is clouding what he’s actually doing.
First off: It’s a stretch to call him an egomaniac since it’s not his fault that the news reports on basically everything he does/says. It’s not like this is some clever marketing ploy to be in the public eye…he’s already on TV.
He’s also just holding a tryout for teams. Someone will inevitably pick him up for the marketing money in their minor league system, but, again, it’s not like he’s just trying to do that.
Lastly, you’ve (nor I) clearly never been a top-flight athlete who thinks they can do all and wants to. So he wants to try baseball? Why not? When you’re extremely gifted at sports, and it’s all you’ve ever done, just sitting still isn’t an option.
The answer to this is because he refused to play anything other than QB for the NFL. I 1000% guarantee you he would still be in the league today if he would allow himself to be a RB/HB/TE hybrid kind of thing. But he patently refused to do anything other than play QB. He played it all his life and it’s what he wants to do, I can’t blame him for that.
He also refused to go to Canada and play QB where he could get more in-game action and potentially impress an NFL team. This is more confusing for me and I don’t completely know why he didn’t go this route.
He’s not “a complete washout” in his own sport for lack of athleticism, it’s more subbornness than anything.
That is exactly the opposite of the truth. Baseball is a game in which athleticism helps but is invariably crushed by the ability to consistently repeat precise technique.
Baseball is a game of process and failure. It’s not football, where you play once a week; you play every day, and you fail every day, and in the short term failure or success don’t prove your process is good or bad; you can do everything right and go 0-for-4, and you can have a dreadful day and get a flukey hit. Baseball demands a dedication to repetition, process and adjustment that Tim Tebow has not personally shown.
Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders were college-trained and minor league-trained ballplayers prior to entering MLB and had proven some degree of ability. Both entered the major leagues before their athletic peaks. Tebow is not a trained ballplayer and is past the average peak age of a baseball player.
The chances of a 29-year-old man becoming a major league quality ballplayer after not playing the sport for ten years are basically zero.
I was a bit put off by his religious-ness back in the day, but I never understood why he never even stuck on a roster after a winning season (and winning a playoff game) with the Broncos. I kind of hope he succeeds at baseball, for however you’d like to define success (even if it doesn’t mean making it to the majors).
Also, I’m in the Twin Cities so I heard a radio interview with the manager of the St. Paul Saints recently where he talked about how its tricky to sign the right kind of players to play for independent league baseball teams (he said they try to sign players that legitimately want to work hard and win - not just players trying to get a paycheck). I’m sure the Saints would love to have him if he still has talent and a drive to compete and win ballgames.
Wow, you really hate this guy. The media is more to blame for his persona than anything. I’m not sure why his desire to play MLB has somehow crushed your soul; but you need to let it go. He’s not right for the NFL but he’s still a gifted athlete. He was a better all-around athlete in school than Michael Jordan was; I wouldn’t be surprised if was able to make a go of it. If it’s a “clown show” blame the media, not him. From my perspective he’s been relatively humble since leaving UF.
Tebow was a success. The problem is that football players play in offensive or defensive schemes, and no matter how talented you are, if your skills don’t fit the scheme you won’t make the team. Tebow was quite successful in a system built around him. But no other team wanted to run that type of offense. Oh, and he couldn’t throw. Minor problem there for a quarterback.
But he is possibly the strongest person ever to play QB. He is a good runner. In terms of conditioning, he’s probably better than most if not all pro QBs. He works hard. Even though he hasn’t made any teams, he’s been complimented for improving his footwork and his accuracy. The nice thing about baseball is that there are no schemes. Each player’s talents can stand on their own, and weaknesses are just covered up by where they hit in the order or where they play in the field.
If you look at his stats, and in-game performance, in that season with the Broncos (2011), it might help explain things.
Three of his regular season wins were in OT, and the Broncos had to come from behind each time to do so. They would play poorly for three quarters, and, then, yes, Tebow would help rally them (though ISTR that timely defensive play also played a big part there).
He only completed 46.5% of his passes that season, in a league where a 60% completion rate is generally considered to be the minimum for a successful quarterback.
His advocates would say, “look beyond the stats, he just wins.” But, consistent play for a QB is a measurable thing, and it is seen by coaches as a prerequisite to winning consistently. He never showed that he had the accuracy, or the ability to read and react to defenses, that NFL teams demand from their QBs.
Plus the Broncoes were good everywhere else, so when Tebow had his bad stretches they could stay in games. Then he’d turn into Steve Young in the 4th quarter…
The Broncos are still that great. They won with Peyton Manning being one of the worst QBs in the NFL that year. And now they have Mark Sanchez, who is in a dream situation and should have a career revival with them.
Then let me restate. He is a washout at HIS CHOSEN POSITION. The fact that he is seeking a second athletic career at the age of 29 shows he did not succeed at being an NFL quarterback.
And as for his moments of success with Denver, I do believe the rest of the Bronco team, especially the defense, had a lot to do with those comebacks.
I don’t have anything against Tebow personally, but it does rankle me a little when people have the attitude of “oh, I’ll play baseball, that’s not that hard.” Yes,it fucking is. I played D1 baseball after being very successful in high school ball. Even though I had dedicated myself to baseball after high school,and had been moderately successful in a D1 NCAA program, I knew I would never be anything more than a very late round draft pick, and at best would maybe bounce around in Rookie League or Single A minor leagues for a while. I chose to dedicate myself to my studies and a “regular” career.
As RickJay said, baseball is less about overall athletic prowess, and more about being able to learn a particular skill, and then repeat that skill flawlessly. If Tebow had the discipline to do that, then he could have learned how to throw a football better, and we wouldn’t be having a conversation about his possible second career at the age of 29.
Tim Tebow was a terrible Quarterback. His great year of 2011 featured the worst completion % in the league, one of the three or four worst passer ratings in the league, and he took 33 sacks due to his inability to make timely decisions. He didn’t “lead” the team to anything. He was arguably the worst starting player on the field for Denver. The Broncos lost their last three regular season games and it would have been four if not for their FG kicker hitting repeatedly from 50+ yards. Tebow failed down the stretch. His game winning pass in the playoffs was a short throw followed by a 70 yard run by the WR Thomas. The five sacks by the defense helped too.
Following that season he was traded for much less than Denver paid for him, failed with the NY Jets, was cut before the season by New England, and failed with Philadelphia. He was a well below average with a poor career. He wasn’t tall enough or fast enough to be a tight end or running back and who knows if he could even catch a ball?
He didn’t have the skills for pro football and is trying to enter a sport he hasn’t played for over a decade at an age when almost all players are past their prime. It’s ego, period.
If he weren’t a Southern Home-Schooled outspoken Christian he’d be Mark Rypien. Rypien actually won a super Bowl.