Manager of Charleston Minor League Team Apologizes for Taking Shots at Tim Tebow’s Religion

Charleston RiverDogs general manager Dave Echols was forced to apologize for taking shots at Columbia outfielder Tim Tebow’s Christianity during last Friday’s home game.

This season marks the first full season of pro baseball for the one-time NFL quarterback, and last week Tebow’s team, the Columbia Fireflies, played at the RiverDogs’ home turf. But as the Fireflies took the field, the RiverDogs had set up a series of unwelcome jokes at Tebow’s expense.

In one example, the RiverDog mascot wore under eye black featuring Tebow’s NFL phrase “John 3:16,” a reference to a Bible passage.

That wasn’t the only jab at the famously Christian player. The RiverDogs put captions of “Not Tim Tebow” under photos of players appearing on the team scoreboard during the Fireflies’ starting line up.

The RiverDogs also played the “Hallelujah Chorus” over the loudspeaker system every time Tebow came up at bat.

After the game, criticism of the mean-spirited jabs grew until by Monday, RiverDogs manager Echols was apologizing for the badly received jokes.

In a June 20 article in the Post and Courier, Echols apologized saying “our intent was not to offend anyone” with the attacks on Tebow’s religious ideals.

“While we believe that our promotions were poking fun at Mr. Tebow’s celebrity status rather than his religion or baseball career, our intent was not to offend anyone, and for the fact that we did offend, we are sorry,” Echols told the paper.

“Of the many promotional pieces that we executed, there were a handful on Friday’s game that some construed as in poor taste, and we made it a focus to remove those elements and celebrate Mr. Tebow the remainder of his time in Charleston,” Echols admitted in his letter to the paper.

Neither Tebow nor Fireflies President John Katz had a comment on the incident.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.