Buck Showalter has zero interest in Tim Tebow’s baseball pursuit

The sports world was buzzing Tuesday with word that Tim Tebow is looking to attempt a baseball career. It was fun for a while, but eventually that meant somebody was going to ask actual baseball players and coaches about the idea, and Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter had no interest in Tebow’s baseball dream.

“Am I intrigued? No,” Showalter said when asked about Tebow. “Not at all.”

Showalter is a bit of a no-nonsense throwback baseball guy, so the idea of a player looking to move on from a failed football career to try and pick up baseball years after he last stepped foot on a baseball diamond as a high school junior, surely was not one Buck was going to dive head first in with his voice of support.

“Amused? No. Not at all,” Showalter added. “I think about what these guys do in out Dominican academy, in Delmarva, in Aberdeen, in the Gulf Coast League, in Frederick, Bowie, in Norfolk (referring to Baltimore’s minor league affiliates). I take very seriously the stuff they have to do to get the opportunities to be able to do what they’re doing.”

Many, perhaps including Showalter, think Tebow is pursuing a baseball career purely for the attention. Who knows if that is true or not, but considering Tebow’s age, time away from the sport, the fact he was just claiming he could still play quarterback in the NFL as recently as two weeks ago, and that he pretty much has a job sitting there for him with the SEC Network, it does come off as a bit of an oddity he would make such a decision.

Tebow was offered a minor league contract by the Schaumburg Boomers, which is no real surprise. Minor league teams are always looking for creative ways to generate publicity, so once news broke Tebow was hoping to get into baseball it only made sense a minor league team was the first to seize the moment. The Boomers are an independent team in the Frontier League, so Showalter has no reason to be too concerned here. Not yet, at least.

[Karl Buscheck]