Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Tebow takes the field in Florida
It’s Tebow Time again in Florida, and local fans will have plenty of opportunities to see the Gators football legend on a minor-league baseball field in the coming days.
Tim Tebow joins the St. Lucie Mets today as they begin a three-game series against the Palm Beach Cardinals. Games are today through Thursday, 6:30 each night, at First Data Field (525 NW Peacock Blvd. in Port St. Lucie).
Ticket sales have already jumped since the parent New York Mets announced Sunday that Tebow was being promoted to their High-A affiliate.
During Tebow’s stint with the Low-A Columbia (S.C.) Fireflies, attendance was up nearly 40 percent from a year ago to an
average of 5,230, best in the South Atlantic League. His presence also prompted sellouts on the road, including series at Greenville and Charleston.
Adam MacDonald, media relations director for the St. Lucie Mets, said Monday morning that the team was already seeing a steady increase of ticket sales and media requests. “We’re anticipating a bump but we’re not totally sure what’s going to happen,” he said.
First Data Field is just under 100 miles from Fort Lauderdale and less than 80 miles from Boca Raton.
After this week’s home games, St. Lucie will play this weekend at Fort Myers before returning home July 4 for a three-game series against the Charlotte Stone Crabs. They will play four games against the Miami Marlins’ Florida State League affiliate at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, July 7-10.
That provides several inexpensive opportunities to see Tebow, the popular but polarizing Heisman Trophy winner who had a .222 batting average with three home runs, 23 RBI and 69 strikeouts in 212 at-bats as an outfielder for the Fireflies before his promotion.
Today’s game in Port St. Lucie is part of the team’s regular Two For Tuesday special, where fans can buy two tickets, two hot dogs and two sodas for $15. In addition, Silver Sluggers members get in free and receive a free hot dog — membership is $20 for fans 55 and older.
Wednesday is All You Can Eat and a Seat: For $18 fans get a ticket to the game and access to the smorgasbord of hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, popcorn, $2 soda, $2 water and $2 beer. Thursday is Dollar Night: $1 Bud and Bud Light (8 oz. cans), $1 hot dogs, $1 soda and $1 popcorn.
Tickets can be purchased at the First Data Field box office (opens at 10 a.m. on weekdays), by calling 772-871-2115 and at stluciemets.com.
St. Lucie is one of the better drawing teams in the Florida State League, averaging 1,745 in the 7,000-capacity ballpark that is the spring training home of the parent New York Mets.
Regarding the possibility of Tebow faithful packing the park, MacDonald said, “I don’t know when the last time a Florida State League game has ever been sold out for anybody. Certainly our big games are Thursday for Dollar Night, and July 4 is always a popular night as well. Tuesday is typically one of our better nights with our Silver Sluggers nights; that usually draws well with our older folks.”
Tebow’s foray into baseball has been a curiosity since he signed with the Mets organization in September.
Although the former quarterback’s move to professional baseball at age 29 has been met with much derision, more than 400 fans showed up for his first workout for the Mets’ instructional league at the Port St. Lucie complex in September. Tebow No. 15 Mets jerseys became the No. 1 best-seller on Fanatics and MLB’s online shop the day they went on sale at $120 a pop.
Fascination with Tebow’s attempt to resurrect his baseball skills for the first time since high school continued during spring training. He batted .148 (4-for-27) in nine Grapefruit League games for the Mets, with three of his hits coming in two games against the Marlins.
At his best, Tebow won the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and the following year led the Gators to their second national title (he also contributed to their first in 2006).
But his NFL career did not lead to similar success as he played on four teams in five years, appearing in only 25 games.
Tebow, who continues to work as a college football commentator, remains a longshot to make it to the major leagues. In announcing Tebow’s promotion, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told reporters covering the team that “we recognize this is not a usual circumstance, but we just felt, everything involved, it was about the right time for him to move to High-A ball.”
Alderson went on to say, “It’s not like he’s tearing up the league, but at the same time, all the indications are positive in terms of various things we look at — chase rate, exit velocity, a host of other things. The average isn’t there, but he’s improving.”