Minor League baseball is a grind. Anyone who tells you differently has never been part of that struggle. Once you sign, there are many doing the same, and you work up the ladder, barely making ends meet at times and still following your dream. But I gotta tell ya, it's not easy. But the key there is "the dream", because if you talk to minor league baseball players, and I've talked to several, the money is little, the travel to away games can be brutal, the sleeping arrangements aren't great and as much as you work hard, there's always someone else working just as hard. And so, you work, work, work to try and make it to "the Show" to fulfill your dream and eventually sign a nice contract so you can make millions.
Tim Tebow isn't following the same path, and I have a problem with that. It's being reported by the New York Daily News that he'll be getting a $100,000 signing bonus. Outrageous if you ask me:
"Tim Tebow just wants a chance.The former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner will get the opportunity to chase his baseball dream with the Mets beginning Sept. 19 in Port St. Lucie. The Mets signed the former football player and media fixation to a minor league deal Thursday that includes a $100,000 signing bonus. They have assigned him to start his professional baseball career in the team's instructional league at their spring training complex."
But why should that type of money be allowed? Because he's Tim Tebow?
I immediately thought about a brilliant piece by Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel speaking specially about how hard it is to be a Minor Leaguer. Garrett Broshuis spoke to Real Sports and talked about how difficult it was to survive on his, then salary of $3000.
And there's more. Check these tweets out going after the Tebow signing bonus:
Just so we are clear. Tim Tebow just got a 100K signing bonus to play baseball.... Mine was 1K....— Cody Decker (@Decker6) September 8, 2016
The fact Tebow got 100,000 to sign let alone him even getting signed is a joke— Corey Walter (@Corey_dubv) September 8, 2016
Every minor leaguer gives up so much to chase their dreams, @TimTebow doesn't even have to give up his day job. #justnotright— Peter Moylan (@PeterMoylan) September 8, 2016
And I think about my conversation with Ty Hensley's mom Marci a while back, and how when her husband Mike was in the minor leagues, it was pretty hard:
Marci Hensley: "I lived through it with my husband, Mike Henlsey. I lived through the highs, the lows, the injuries and his heartbreak when he was released. We worked 4 jobs between us to allow him to finish school, most of the time not knowing where our next dollar was coming from. "
And so I guess the question is "Why?" and why does this type of thing have to happen? I'm not gonna lie, I'm disappointed in the Mets and I'm disappointed in the fact that Tebow can demand this type of bonus and he hasn't played ball in 10 years.
You gotta wonder what's going on here. When you find out, please tell me, because the whole thing sucks.
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