Joel Klatt: Tim Tebow MLB tryout ‘not authentic,’ ‘rings false’
Aug 31, 2016, 4:28 PM
Former Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow embarked on what he hopes is an MLB career Tuesday, putting on a workout for scouts from 28 Major League teams in Los Angeles.
Tebow, 29, earned mixed reviews in his first time playing baseball in more than a decade, including a poor review from another former multi-sport star: Joel Klatt.
On with “Schlereth and Evans” Wednesday, the Fox Sports college football analyst said Tebow’s attempt at resurrecting his baseball career seemed to be geared at attention and publicity.
“More power to him, I guess. I just don’t like the sideshow that it always becomes and then him telling us that all of sudden he loves baseball. It’s just not authentic to me. It just rings false,” Klatt said.
Klatt pointed to a Twitter post from ESPN NFL analyst Mark Dominik in which the former longtime front office executive and general manager said his Tampa Bay Buccaneers reached out to Tebow’s representation about playing H-back only to be declined.
I called & called agent Jimmy Sexton, begged him & Tim Tebow to come play H-Back for the Bucs but it was always nope, only QB, now baseball
— Mark Dominik (@MarkdominikESPN) August 30, 2016
“Don’t tell me that all you wanted to do was be in the NFL when Mark Dominik says we begged you to come play H-back and you declined,” Klatt said. “And now, all of a sudden, at the end of August you decide that you love baseball 12 years after being a high school baseball player and only hitting four home runs as a junior.”
Tebow, however, maintained that this was a passion project of his in an interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt Tuesday and was not intended to garner attention or publicity.
“For me, this is something I’m passionate about. This is something I’m excited about putting in the work. This is not something that I’m doing for publicity,” Tebow said. “I’m definitely not doing it financially. I’m taking a pay cut to come out here and work.”
Follow 104.3 The Fan digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.