Tebow is huge draw in the minors with fans packing small stadiums
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tim Tebow is a big-league hit in the minor leagues.
The Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback has minor league fans around the Single A South Atlantic League flocking to stadiums and jamming ticket lines to see the Columbia Fireflies outfielder and designated-hitter.
The Hickory Crawdads sold out four games with the Fireflies, its total of 17,500 for the series surpassing the 15,900 they drew their first eight games.
“We had 4,500 people in the stands,” Crawdads season ticket holder Christopher Pack said, “and 4,300 were there to see Tim Tebow.”
Columbia Fireflies player Tim Tebow signs an autograph before a minor league game against the Hickory Crawdads at L.P. Frans Stadium.
People show up in Tebow’s NFL jerseys, and Florida Gator outfits, lining up around the rails in this intimate ballparks trying to get autograph Ernie Masche / The Hickory Daily Record via AP
or a selfie with Tebow.
It may be unclear if he will ever get to “The Show,” but one is clear: Tebow is the biggest show currently playing Class A ball.
That was apparent last Saturday in the eighth inning against Hickory when Tebow, on his off day with the New York Mets affiliate, heard the Crawdads crowd chant his name, hoping that Columbia manager Jose Leger would get him in the game.
“It’s not something you see all the time,” Hickory general manager Mark Seaman said.
The welcomed chaos has been evident during Tebow’s three road trips in April.
In Augusta the GreenJackets front-office staff had to scramble and find enough workers for concessions: 5,830 fans turned out, well above their season’s average of 3,190. A few days later in Rome — smack in the heart of Southeastern Conference football territory where the former Florida Gator was a polarizing figure — Tebow and the Fireflies drew 5,105 fans.
“That was two-and-half times what they might bring in for a game in mid-April,” said Lakewood (New Jersey) BlueClaws communications director Greg Giombarrese said. “That’s when I knew this was something different.”
The Fireflies will play at Lakewood in a four-game set starting May 13. They have sold out of their 6,588 reserve sets for two of the games with very limited seating available for the other two. Giombarrese said, after hearing about the other stops, the BlueClaws would have more than 200 employees at the park to handle the fans — about the amount necessary for its most anticipated games of the year like fireworks nights or other special promotions.