I have no problems with Tebow attempting a baseball career. He is a gifted athlete. He will loose a bunch of money giving up his TV job. Minor league teams ride buses and stay in cheap motels. Tebow will have to pay his dues riding those busses before any major league team will consider him.
I don’t have a personal problem with him at all. For my part, I think a person should be allowed to try anything that pops into their head. It’s a free country.
I am, however, of the reasonably well educated opinion that Tebow’s chances of being a real Major League Baseball player are little better than mine, and I would have to agree with anyone were they to say that it is rather difficult to believe Tebow himself has made a realistic decision here. He’s 29 years old, hasn’t played organized baseball in ten years, and visibly does not have the technical skills to hit major league pitching. (I’d like to see video of his outfield play - that isn’t as easy as people think, either.) So one of three things is true:
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Tim Tebow is so incredibly possessed of blinding hubris that he actually believes he can become a major leaguer in a sport he can’t yet play at a professional level with a few months of practice,
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Tebow has been flummoxed into THINKING he’s an MLB-quality ballplayer by people who have a vested interest in him thinking that, or
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It’s a PR stunt.
Whichever is true, if an MLB team signs him and sticks him on their AA team, I agree it’s not Tim Tebow’s fault some other guy lot the roster spot (and quite honestly, probably every AA team has at least one guy whose chances at the majors are obviously nothing and who’s there because, well, someone has to fill that spot.) **It’s the fault of the TEAM. ** If the San Francisco Giants went insane and offered me a pitching spot at Richmond, I wouldn’t be like “oh, gosh, I can’t ask Smith to lose this job there.” I’d fucking take it, and after I got blown out and was sent home with my 15.73 ERA I’d be grinning from ear to ear saying “I was a pro ballplayer.”
Didn’t Michael Jordan give up at the beginning of his third minor league season? He never developed a decent batting average.
Tebow will need similar time in the minors just to find out if he can develop the necessary skills.
Second or third, depending on how you want to parse things.
He played in two different minor leagues in 1994; for the Birmingham Barons (the White Sox AA affiliate, in the Southern League) during the summer, then for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League. So, two leagues, two “seasons”, but only one calendar year of playing professional baseball.
He left the Barons during spring training in 1995, and rejoined the Bulls shortly thereafter.
The NFL wished Tebow happy birthday today on their official Facebook page. Really? Why not Ryan Leaf? JaMarcus Russell? Vince Young?
The Onion, 8-10-2016, random man-on-the-street observation:
“Football, broadcasting, and now baseball? Is there any limit to what this guy can do for a little while?”
He’ll never clear the Mendoza Line.
You must admit there’s no telling what Jordan might have accomplished in baseball had he not been kidnapped by aliens and forced to play basketball with various animated characters. And Bill Murray.
Too many Seminoles and Hurricanes for that to happen. You think politics is partisan? you don’t know about college football in Florida…
Tebow now selling autographed bats and balls.
http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/08/15/tim-tebow-selling-autographed-bats-baseballs?xid=si_social
And, there you go. Just needed some bucks, that’s all.
Teebat Tebow has a nice ring to it.
Some results: Tim Tebow displays power, earns mixed scouting reviews at MLB workout
It’s unclear to me whether these ratings numbers they’re giving him are on a scale calibrated to MLB players, or to minor league prospects.
One thing that surprised me is that he was rated as having a weak arm. You would think anybody who played QB in the NFL would have a strong outfield arm.
It’s a different throw with a different ball… and throwing the football was never his strength as a QB anyway.
The cynics over at Deadspin think it was never about playing professional baseball anyway:
No, no, no, no!
This is The Straight Dope. Thou shalt not pass up an opportunity for an Airplane! quote.
It’s a different kind of throwing altogether.
That’s good, but I like Taebo Tebow better. 
Doh! :smack:
Signed to a minor league contract with the NY Mets.
It’s a different kind of throwing
Glad Tebow is getting the chance. The instructional league and winter league experience will be a good indication of Tebow’s potential. If he stinks then the Mets are out almost nothing. He’ll have to prove himself before they’ll sign him to a minor league team next Spring.
This is a good lesson for college athletes that played two sports in high school. Play football and baseball. So you have two viable pro options. Jameis Winston did that. He could make the switch a lot easier than Tebow because Jameis played college baseball.
It’s a long shot for Tebow. But I don’t see where the Mets have anything to lose. They probably aren’t paying him much and they would be holding Instructional Camp for other players anyway.