Tim Tebow announced this week that he is retiring from baseball’s New York Mets to focus on other priorities.
The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner returned to baseball in 2016 for the first time since his junior year of high school and reached the Triple A level, encouraged by then general manager and current team president Sandy Alderson.
“I want to thank the Mets, Alderson, the fans and all my teammates for the chance to be a part of such a great organization,” Tebow said in a statement. “I loved every minute of the journey, but at this time I feel called in other directions. I never want to be partially in on anything. I always want to be 100 percent in on whatever I choose. Thank you again for everyone’s support of this awesome journey in baseball, I’ll always cherish my time.”
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Over four big-league spring trainings, Tebow batted .151 in 34 games, connecting for his first and only homer last spring before camps were closed.
“It has been a pleasure to have Tim in our organization as he’s been a consummate professional during his four years with the Mets,” Alderson said. “By reaching the Triple A level in 2019, he far exceeded expectations when he first entered the system in 2016, and he should be very proud of his accomplishments.”
Tebow’s baseball career began with a bang. He homered in his first professional at-bat during an instructional league game against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fall of 2016. Later that fall, he made headlines by comforting a fan who had a seizure in the front row of Tebow’s Arizona Fall League debut.
The former NFL quarterback was an All-Star at Double A in 2018, when he batted .273 with six homers in 84 games. He struggled the next year at Triple A and had his season cut short by a laceration on his left hand. He was hired by ESPN as a college football analyst in 2013 and worked in broadcasting throughout his time pursuing an opportunity to play Major League Baseball.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice