New York Mets: The Tim Tebow experience in Trenton

Since two of the group’s three major league teams had hit rough patches, it was decided to switch it up. They would take in the Tim Tebow experience.

Tim Tebow, former Heisman Trophy winner, triple Heisman nominee, and the aspiring outfielder of the New York Mets Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies led his team into Trenton to meet the Thunder for three games beginning June 8, and tickets were secured for June 10.

Of course, “led” may be the wrong verb in the previous sentence since rarely do 9-hole batters lead teams anywhere, but perhaps there has never actually been a 9-hole hitter like Tim Tebow.

The day dawned gray and drizzly, but hope and snark were in the air on the way to Arm & Hammer Stadium.

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Early admission passes had one of the New York Mets fans in the group hopeful for an autograph as part of The Tim Tebow Experience, but everyone remained unclear about one point even at the “luxury” box entrance.

One in the group verbalized it: “What exactly is a Rumble Pony?” Oh, it didn’t matter! There was Tebow’s name in the hand-lettered lineup in the concourse. He would play left field and bat last. The Experience was underway.

The lineup card discovery was followed by a disappointment, however. Ushers wouldn’t allow anyone near the Rumble Ponies dugout without a ticket for one of the three sections directly behind it.

“Because of the mayhem,” one usher explained. Nothing like mayhem was apparent. It was drizzling. While Tim the Bronco had been out stretching, he was nowhere in sight at that point. But, wait – Broncos…Rumble Ponies…hmm…

The Game Begins

“I don’t get it,” said one of the women. “He’s not very good, right?” She was surveying the various Tebow jerseys in the crowd. One for the New York Jets, one for the Columbia Fireflies, more than one for the Mets.

One of the men said, “He won the Heisman Trophy.”

“Really?”

As Mr. Mayhem stepped to the plate to lead off the third inning with Binghamton ahead, 1-0, another woman said, “He has legs like tree trunks.”

“He’s got a good butt,” said another.

“Baseball players have the best butts,” said the youngest woman. A bit earlier she had contributed some information provided by her smartphone: Tebow had been born in the Philippines…

…and he slammed a pitch into center field for a single! Big cheer. The crowd, which featured many New York Yankee jerseys and perhaps 1000 kids in Greg Bird giveaway Thunder jerseys, may have turned in Tebow’s favor – or was there an actual turn? In the fourth inning, when he was punched out looking, a Yankees fan in the group yelled sarcastically, “You can’t do that! That’s Tim Tebow!!”

The Actual Game

While even the Philadelphia Phillies and Yankee fans in the group kept tabs on when Tebow would bat again, the real story on the field was young Justin Dunn’s fine pitching for Binghamton. In his first start in Double-A, the right-hander held Trenton to two hits over seven innings on the way to a 6-0 Young Horses win.

Trenton managed only three hits overall, only two more than Tim Tebow had himself! He scored a run behind that hit. Overall, he was 1-for-4 on the day, caught a fly ball, and made two decent throws back to the infield following singles.

At the end of the day, his batting average stood at .241, but he didn’t look particularly overmatched at any point. Following his single, he didn’t get a great jump from second base on a following hitter’s single, but from his angle, it may have appeared the line drive could be caught by the second baseman.

Next: The Yankees are eyeing deGrom

He is about eight years older than Justin Dunn. On Binghamton’s team website, Dunn is still wearing his St. Lucie Mets cap. On Baseball-Reference.com, Tim Tebow is wearing a New York Mets cap. See, he creates a buzz.