You can't make this stuff up.
Tim Tebow opened his Mets minor league career with a bang Thursday night by hitting a two-run homer to the opposite field in his first plate appearance.
The former Heisman Trophy winner and Jets quarterback started in left field and batted seventh for the Class A Columbia Fireflies of the South Atlantic League in Columbia, S.C. With two outs in the second inning, Tebow drove a 2-and-1 pitch from Augusta lefty Dominec Mazza for a home run to left field.
The ball struck a fence above the wall, bounced back into play and Tebow stopped at second base ahead of the throw. Then, after umpires signaled it as a home run, he pumped a fist and completed his tour of the bases.
Columbia, the eventual 14-7 winner Thursday, is embracing the man it once rooted against. Noelle Colligan stood in a line at least a dozen people deep to buy a new No. 15 Tebow Fireflies jersey. She became a Tebow fan watching his march to the 2007 Heisman Trophy at Florida. The University of South Carolina student put on the jersey before the game started. Then, as Tebow came to the plate, she leaned over and told a friend with the wind blowing out and Tebow's amazing career so far, she just knew he would hit one out.
"It's just not who he is as an athlete. It's his whole character. It's what he believes. It's the good work he does," said Colligan, who volunteered with a local special needs prom put on by the Tim Tebow Foundation.
His night went downhill from there. He grounded out to shortstop in his second at-bat and struck out in his last three turns at the plate to finish 1 for 5. He looked at strike three twice.
Tebow announced he would try to make it as a professional baseball player last summer and the Mets signed him in September. He played in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .194, and had 27 at-bats in major league spring training, hitting .148 with no extra base hits and eight strikeouts. _ With AP
