BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Before the minor league season started here, a local news anchor asked a sports reporter if one of the new players on the Binghamton Rumble Ponies was a good baseball player.
“No, not really,” the reporter said.
The player in question is an anomaly. His talent on the field is beside the point. He is Tim Tebow, a former Heisman Trophy-winner and N.F.L. quarterback whose celebrity transcends sports. A lot of people seem interested in whatever he’s doing, whether it’s football, baseball, canasta or pick-up sticks.
Before he played in his first game last month for the Rumble Ponies — the Mets’ Class AA affiliate — Binghamton had a touch of Tebow fever.