New York Mets outfielder Tim Tebow will play for the Philippines in this month’s World Baseball Classic qualifiers in Tuscon, Arizona.
The former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback, who was born and spent his first three years in Manila where his family served as Baptist missionaries, has been enlisted to help the archipelagic Asian nation reach the finals of the quadrennial tournament for the first time.
Tim Tebow
(@TimTebow)Grateful and excited to play for team Philippines 🇵🇭 in the @WBCbaseball… the country I was born in and somewhere that is near and dear to my heart!
The Philippines will play their first game against the Czech Republic on 20 March in the opening round of a double-elimination qualifying tournament, which includes Great Britain, Panama, Spain and New Zealand.
The call-up of Tebow, an outfielder who batted .163 with four home runs and 19 RBIs over 77 games at Triple-A Syracuse last season, comes one day after he stole the show with a two-run home run for the Mets in a spring training game against the Detroit Tigers, which marked his first homer of any kind since July.
Jonathan Vasquez
(@_jonvasquez)ITS TEBOW TIME! #LGM pic.twitter.com/eCj50KZjrm
The Philippine national team won the first Asian Baseball Championships in 1954, but have largely struggled against confederation rivals Japan, South Korea and Chinese Taipei in the seven decades since.
Tebow, 32, played 35 games in the NFL as a quarterback for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets from 2010 until 2012. He completed 173 passes in 361 attempts over his career with 2,422 yards and 17 touchdowns, while also rushing for 12 TDs.