I woke up for class this morning and looked at my phone to see a notification from my First Pitch app. This is what the notification said.
My first thought was "are you serious?" I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Tim Tebow. I love how Tim Tebow wasn't and still isn't afraid to show his love for Jesus. I love that he lets his light shine all over the place, but I was still questioning the fact that he got a minor league contract.
For those of you who don't know who Tim Tebow is, or if you don't keep up with sports, I will fill you in. Tim Tebow was the quarterback for the Florida Gators. While he was at Florida, he won both the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and the BCS National Championship. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2010 and then in 2012, he joined the New York Jets. He also signed with the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. He also works as an analyst for the SEC Network on ESPN.
So, why would he want to be a professional baseball player? I mean, it isn't as easy as he is portraying it. Tebow hosted an open tryout on August 30, in front of scouts from 28 out of 30 teams. He played a stimulated game for the scouts. (To watch Tim Tebow's MLB workout video, click here.)
There were mixed reviews on Tebow and his talent. One American League scout told USA Today's Josh Peter, " It was a complete waste of time. It was like watching an actor trying to portray a baseball player. He tried. He tried. That's the best I can say. He is crazy strong, and could run well in one direction, but that's it. He only had one good throw of all his throws. " Whereas, another scout told Peter, "that was big power, he was mishitting the ball out of the park."
After the workout, one thing became clear. Tebow was going somewhere. That's where the New York Mets come into play. They signed Tim Tebow to a Minor League contract. Tebow was signed as an outfielder. Marc Craig of Newsday said that Tebow will begin his career with the New York Mets on September 18th with the Mets instructional league. However, he won't be able to be there every day due to his commitments to ESPN.
A lot of people are questioning whether or not he actually has what it takes to play professional baseball, or if the Mets signed him just for marketing purposes. The general manager of the Mets, Sandy Alderson told reporters after the announcement of signing Tebow, "This decision was strictly driven by baseball. This was not driven by marketing considerations."
Personally, I don't agree with the decision to sign Tim Tebow. More than likely, in order for the Mets to sign Tebow, they had to release someone. Another reason I don't agree with it is because he is taking the spot of someone who has worked his whole life to play professional baseball. I also don't agree with it because minor league players have to give up so much to play professional baseball (believe me, I know first hand as my boyfriend plays in the minor league system), but Tim Tebow is going to be allowed to miss practices and conditioning to have another job. I feel like if he truly wanted to play professionally that he would quit his job so he could focus all of his attention on baseball. I bet if you ask almost every minor league baseball player if they had another job during baseball season they would laugh.
However, one thing all of us can learn from this is to never give up. Tebow's dreams of playing professional football might have ended, but his dream of playing professional baseball is just beginning.
