Larry Bowa: Tim Tebow’s baseball experiment is disrespectful to the game

Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Larry Bowa has been in the sport of professional baseball for the last four-and-a-half decades. And when it comes to Tim Tebow’s big-league aspirations, he has some very strong opinions.

In an interview with Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe over the weekend, Bowa called Tebow’s experiment disrespectful to the game.

“Whoever’s idea it is, they don’t respect the game of baseball,” Bowa said when asked about the former Heisman winner’s ambitions. “It’s a hard game. You don’t come in at age 28 or 29. I’m not saying he’s not a good athlete, but this is a hard game and there are a lot of good athletes in pro ball that never get to the big leagues.

“I don’t think it can happen,” Bowa continued. “There are guys 28 or 29 that are getting released every day. How can you take 10 years off and all of the sudden be facing guys throwing 95, guys throwing sliders?”

Tebow announced his plans to pursue a professional baseball career earlier this month and is already drawing some serious scouting interest from a number of MLB teams. But add the 70-year-old Bowa, who made five All-Star appearances in 15 seasons as a player and has coached in the league since 1987, to the growing list of outraged skeptics.

H/T theScore