Tim Tebow Hits Home Run in First Professional At-Bat...OR DID HE??? [Update]

. BOOM! @TimTebow hits a homer during instructional league game! pic.twitter.com/8h9JCzr7Br
— Katie Johnson (@Katie_Johnson_) September 28, 2016

Tim Tebow played his first game in the instructional league today, and he started with a bang.

Allegedly.

It looks nice, doesn't it? A crisp autumn day in Who Gives a Shit, Florida. Blue skies peppered with white clouds, palm trees surrounding the freshly manicured diamond, which you can almost smell. Then there is Tebow, standing in the batter's box, awaiting his first pitch in a live, competitive game since high school. And then the unmistakable crack of the bat.

Tim Tebow just hit a home run on the first pitch he ever saw in a professional baseball game. #Mets
— In Mets We Trust (@InMetsWeTrust) September 28, 2016

We're told Tim Tebow hit a home run in his first at-bat—on the first pitch he saw, no less—but did he, really? The video evidence is inconclusive. Helpfully (conveniently?) the recording begins seconds before his swing, and as the ball flies skyward, our camera operator slowly (conveniently??) pans to the crowd. A crowd that is enthused, I guess? There are few hoots and hollers and a smattering of applause for what should be a remarkable moment provided by the sole reason any of those people are sitting there on Wednesday in September. Then, suddenly (conveniently???), the camera pans back to the field just in time for Tebow to cross home plate. We never see the ball go over the fence.

It all seems a little too convenient (conveniently????), doesn't it? Baseball-Reference does not track statistics in the instructional league so unless there was a major media presence at this game—unrealistic, I know—we will literally never know if Tim Tebow ever actually hit a home run in his first at-bat.

Update: Here is another inconclusive angle of the supposed home run. Pretty convenient spot for big-ass steel pipe, huh?

Tebow hit a HR on the first pitch of his first at bat. #Mets #Tebow pic.twitter.com/eNxmeUg93a
— Day Marinkovich (@DayMarinkovich) September 28, 2016

Update 2: Adam Rubin has provided video of the moment that conveniently cuts away almost immediately after the swing. Hmm.

Update 3: Another video, and yet another inconclusive angle. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Unless you make it up.