The Scottsdale Scorpions got their first real-game taste of Tebowmania Tuesday, and they darn near got the total package. The 29-year-old former quarterback, now a Mets prospect making his Arizona Fall League debut, got his first real-game taste of the outfield wall with a memorable face-plant while chasing a hard-hit ball.
Oh, and he also laid his hands on a man who had collapsed and performed a miraculous healing. You know, Tebow stuff.
Let’s start with the laying on of hands. For that we go to Kari Van Horn, a video journalist for ABC15 Arizona:
Tebow signing autographs. Fan has what looks like seizure. Not moving. Tebow puts hand on him and says a prayer. Man breathes. WOW.
— Kari Van Horn (@KariVanHorn) October 11, 2016
Fire arriving at the scene. #Tebow pic.twitter.com/cJyuS6DE4O
— Kari Van Horn (@KariVanHorn) October 11, 2016
Heading back to the station but I have video of it all. I just witnessed a MIRACLE. #Tebow
— Kari Van Horn (@KariVanHorn) October 11, 2016
Here is some corroboration of Tebow’s healing powers:
Tim Tebow an amazing individual. Tends to a man who had a seizure pic.twitter.com/ttYrQiqePh
— Christian Byrnes (@ByrnesC10) October 11, 2016
From an account by the Associated Press:
Daniel Kelly, a Tebow fan from nearby Casa Grande, said he met the ill spectator early in the game. Kelly was getting a baseball autographed by Tebow when the seizure began.
“He’s just shaking violently,” Kelly told The Associated Press by phone. “We’re like, ‘Get a paramedic! Get a paramedic!’”
Kelly said he and his wife, Samantha, began to pray. Kelly then looked up to see that Tebow was also praying while placing a hand on the fan’s leg. …
Tebow stayed with the fan for 15 to 20 minutes until paramedics took him from the stadium.
While we root for the fan’s full recovery, the lesson is clear: When it comes to Tim Tebow there are simply no dull moments. He didn’t kick off his Fall League stint with a first-pitch-he-saw home run, as he did with with the Mets’ instructional league team last month, but there was this example of hustle (if not a great sense of the ballpark’s dimensions):
Tim Tebow got laid out by a defensive line— oh wait (📷: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports): pic.twitter.com/c27NNgpURH
— SB Nation (@SBNation) October 11, 2016
Tebow smashes up against the wall chasing a long fly; trapped it but it bounced off and goes for a double. Fans loved the effort.
— Bob McManaman (@azbobbymac) October 11, 2016
Tim Tebow on faceplanting into LF wall: “I’ve been hit harder, so I’m OK.” #Mets #AFL
— Jake Rill (@JakeDRill) October 11, 2016
[Tebow tees off on a pitch in his very first at-bat]
In other news, Tebow went 0 for 3 at the plate while batting seventh and playing left field. It’s the next step for the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner — who briefly took the NFL by storm before his career flamed out three years ago — as he tries his talents at baseball.
“It’s fun to get out here and play baseball,” he said Monday, after the Scorpions’ first practice (via AZCentral.com). Tebow, who hadn’t played organized baseball since he was a high school junior in 2005, hit .286 in three games with New York’s instructional-league team.
“This isn’t the result,” Tebow said, gesturing to the field at Scottsdale Stadium. “You play to win, obviously, every game. But you’re doing this to try to improve, to try to get ready for spring training.”
In the meantime, Tebow isn’t giving up broadcasting, a career that offers far more possibilities for him. He’ll join the SEC Network on weekends rather than playing in games. On Monday afternoon, the Scorpions will play the Desert Dogs in Glendale in the first of their 32-game schedule. It only gets tougher for him now.
“I just get to come out here and pursue something I love,” he said, “and live out a dream and have a lot of fun doing it.”
And if Tebow happens to perform a miracle or two along the way, all the better, right?
