New York Mets slam minor league taunting of Tim Tebow, team apologizes

June 22 (UPI) -- The Charleston RiverDogs were relentless in its trolling of Tim Tebow last weekend, but the New York Mets are defending their prospect.

"I guess my comment would be that it was all very minor league," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told Newsday.

Tebow, who is hitting .224, went 2-for-12 in the three-game series for the Columbia Fireflies. He has three homers and 21 RBI in 60 games for the Class-A squad.

The RiverDogs pulled out plenty of shade for the former Heisman Trophy winner AT Joseph P. Riley Jr. Ballpark in Charleston, S.C. When his Fireflies teammates were up to bat, the scoreboard read "Not Tim Tebow. The team tweeted out several pointed slants at the outfielder. The franchise also put a photo of Tebow crying on its scoreboard.

Charlie T. RiverDog posted a photo on his Twitter account featuring a bible verse written in his eye black, similar to the way Tebow sported the scripture in his eyes while playing football. He also Tebowed repeatedly during the contests.

This week, RiverDogs president and general manager Dave Echols apologized for the antics.

"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 wrote in a statement to The Post and Courier.