ESPN college football analyst Tim Tebow is calling time on his career as a minor league baseball player.
On Wednesday, the New York Mets announced that the 33-year old was retiring.
Tim Tebow is retiring from professional baseball. https://t.co/9C09gJKK7K
— New York Mets (@Mets) February 18, 2021
In their club statement, the Mets praised Tebow’s professionalism.
“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,” said Team President Sandy Alderson. “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 thanked the team for the opportunity (well, opportunities, I guess).
“I want to thank the Mets, Mr. Alderson, the fans and all my teammates for the chance to be a part of such a great organization,” said Tebow. “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 as a Met. #LGM
Last week, Tebow was listed as one of the Mets’ non-roster invitees to Spring Training.
As a Mets farmhand (not a prospect. Please, never refer to a 30-something outfielder in the minors as a prospect), Tebow made it as far as AAA Syracuse, slashing .163/.240/.255 with four home runs and 98 strikeouts in 77 games at the level in 2019.
Over the years, Tebow’s baseball career was the butt of many jokes, from us here at Awful Announcing and various other websites, social media platforms, and even other minor league teams. From day one, it was something of a farce: the Mets ended up giving credit for his signing of the team’s director of marketing. And while he did smash some dingers, create some attendance spikes, and generate merchandise sales, his baseball career was an unnecessary sideshow, even for an organization that specializes in clown shows like the Mets.
And now, we don’t have to worry about Tebow playing baseball ever again. That’s a good thing. Instead of crapping on Tebow for his exploits on the diamond, we can focus on crapping on Tebow for defending the NCAA model.
