Valley of Opportunity: Binghamton Will Be On Fire This Summer Thanks to Tim Tebow

Of all the places I’ve lived in my life, Binghamton (NY) ranks up there as one of the best. Now, it’s been almost 10 years since I moved away and I’m sure the city has seen the same hardships as most other mid-sized cities, but Binghamton will be getting a shot in the arm this summer when Tim Tebow arrives.

On Wednesday morning, the rumors were confirmed: Tim Tebow will be promoted to the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies — can we still call them the Binghamton Mets like the old days?

Tebow, who played for two Single-A teams last year, strikes out a ton but does hit the ball hard when he makes contact. Last year, he slammed eight dingers in 126 games and during Spring Training, Mets’ GM Sandy Alderson said he thinks Tebow “will play in the major leagues.”

“I think he will play in the major leagues. That’s my guess. That’s my hope, and to some extent now after a year and a half, a modest expectation.” -Mets GM Sandy Alderson in reference to Tebow.

Having said that, who really cares? Binghamton — home of the first-ever Dick’s Sporting Goods, the trio of Jones brothers, and spiedie sauce — deserves to have something to be excited about. For the first time since probably David Wright or Jose Reyes were coming up, NYSEG Stadium will be a destination spot for people from all over the east coast. Good for Binghamton…even if Tebow probably didn’t deserve it.

An interesting bit of Binghamton baseball trivia: Billy Martin, the oft-fired Yankees’ manager, died in a car accident near Binghamton on Christmas Day of 1989. Someone told me that story within the first week of moving into Bing. Here is the New York Times article about the crash.