Tim Tebow's baseball journey began Monday, as he was issued his jersey and reported to the New York Mets' instructional league team.
Majestic Athletic, the uniform provider for MLB, posted a picture of Tebow's No. 15, while Jerry Crasnick of ESPN shared a photo of Tebow's batting practice bats.
SportsCenter posted a picture of Tebow's arrival, while the New York Times' David Waldstein provided another of Tebow on the diamond:
Tebow signed autographs prior to his workout, with one child asking Tebow if he knew Peyton Manning, per Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal.
Once Tebow took the field, he accidentally "airmailed" a throw from 45 feet per Jon Heyman of Today's Knuckleball, who said it went "over his throwing partner and fence." Heyman later shared a photo of Tebow in uniform:
"I'm excited about it," Tebow told Anthony Rieber of Newsday last week. "I really am. I've loved the game of baseball. Hitting a baseball is one of my favorite things to do in sports. I'm excited about the journey, the challenge, the difficulties, all of it. It's going to be a lot of fun, and it's something that's definitely exciting for me."
Tebow's foray into baseball has drawn a number of skeptics. He hasn't played baseball competitively since high school and is entering at an age where he'll have little developmental time. He last played in the NFL four years ago, and it would have been perhaps more realistic had he made this attempt in 2012.
Tebow was nevertheless impressive enough in his well-publicized August tryout to draw interest from multiple teams before he settled on the Mets.
Ian Levin, the Mets' director of minor league operations, told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com:
Development comes from all different areas. There's on-field development that comes from the coaches and playing games, and there's off-field development from your peers and the environment. I haven't spoken to Tim yet, but from everything I've seen about him, he's a very positive person and obviously a hard worker who's become successful in his own right.
It's unclear how much playing time Tebow will get during the short schedule. The Mets are slated for just five games against other teams in the instructional league, though they will have intrasquad scrimmages as well. But as long as Tebow is on the roster, rest assured more eyes will be watching than ever before.
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