LOS ANGELES -- Tim Tebow crushed a batting-practice fastball with a confident left-handed swing, sending it into the trees next to the scoreboard beyond right field.The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback only paused an instant to appreciate his shot, and then he went right back to work on the unlikely next chapter in his unique athletic story.Tebow took his first big swings at a baseball career Tuesday, showing off a powerful bat and other developing skills during a workout in front of dozens of major league scouts and reporters.The 29-year-old aspiring outfielder went through drills at the University of Southern Californias Dedeaux Field for over an hour, confidently chasing a dream deferred for 12 years. Declaring his football career essentially over, Tebow insists he is serious about becoming more than a baseball curiosity.The goal would be to have a career in the big leagues, Tebow said. I just want to be someone to pursue what I believe in, what Im passionate about. A lot of people will say, `But what if you fail? What if you dont make it? Guess what? I dont have to live with regret. I did everything I could. I pushed it. I would rather be someone that could live with peace and no regret than what-if, or being scared.Tebows heavily muscled, 255-pound physique and 6.70-ish time in the 60-yard dash were impressive to the scouts. He also showed undeniable hitting ability with a series of line drives and long homers during batting practice.But Tebow also showed he still needs baseball seasoning when he faced live pitching from former big-leaguers David Aardsma and Chad Smith, who repeatedly fooled him with off-speed pitches. Tebow could only grin in frustration after he fanned on a series of changeups and breaking balls.There is 100 percent nerves, no question about it, Tebow said. When youre at the combine or a pro day, you have your body of work for four years, everything that you did, so its not just that one day. Here, you might have seen me when I was 17, but you havent seen me since. A lot goes into it, so youd better show something. A lot of nerves, a lot of pressure, for sure.Tebow hasnt played baseball regularly since his junior year at Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Florida. He left early to enroll at Florida, beginning a fabled college football career that led to the 2007 Heisman and two national titles for the Gators.But 12 years ago, Tebow was a .494-hitting, all-county outfielder who loved hitting a baseball every bit as much as he loved leading a huddle.The second-hardest decision I ever made was giving up baseball to go to the University of Florida and play football, said Tebow, whose choice of Florida over Alabama was the toughest. There wasnt a season that went by that it wasnt something that I thought about. When I felt like I had this opportunity, I wanted to take it and pursue it with everything I had.A few big-league teams talked privately with Tebow after the workout, and he seems unlikely to have trouble finding an organization willing to give a chance to a celebrity with clear baseball ability, however rudimentary.Tebow realizes he is still far from the big leagues, but he hopes to play in the instructional league in Arizona next month before heading into winter league ball, perhaps even in Latin America.Tebow decided to pursue his baseball aspirations in earnest three months ago. He began training at a baseball school in Arizona run by Chad Moeller. The former big-league catcher saw daily improvements in Tebow, from his bat speed to his mental game.If Im a team, Im signing him, Moeller said. Im taking him to instructional ball. Id get him to the Arizona Fall League and get him matched up against some good arms and see what happens. I dont think this is one youre going to take your time on, because hes not a young kid. So youre going to push him. For him and for the teams, I thought if he goes out and performs the way he could and is capable of, you could see it in a year, a year and a half, definitely in the big leagues.Tebow hasnt played in the NFL since 2012, becoming a broadcaster and resisting attempts to move him to another football position as his quarterback career evaporated. Even while he got an extended look last year from the Philadelphia Eagles, who cut him after the preseason, Tebow said his mind already had wandered back to baseball.Its not about publicity, Tebow said. Its definitely not about money. Its a pay cut to do this. Just pursue what you love, right? Regardless of what else happens. Regardless of if you fail, or if you fall on your face. If thats the worst thing that can happen, thats OK. When did that become such a bad thing? 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Y. -- Yours truly will be here at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney and the four undercard stakes, and I will be happy and grateful to be here. Still, a not so small part of me wishes I could be 204 miles to the east, in East Boston, Mass., at Suffolk Downs.Saturdays card at Suffolk, a mixed bag of 10 races topped by the relatively rich for the circumstances $75,000 Drumtop Stakes, is not the lure for me. The attraction for me is this card will be one of only six this year at Suffolk, and it could be one of the last. Ever. Suffolk has been at deaths door since it lost out on a bid for a critical casino license a couple of years ago, and no one really knows how much longer it can go on, even with a very limited racing schedule. And this is very painful for those who well remember how wild the Massachusetts and New England racing scene was years ago, a racing environment that I cut my eyeteeth on.I first went to Suffolk in the late 1960s, and I have Bill Veeck (yes, baseballs Bill Veeck) to thank for it. Veeck headed a group that purchased Suffolk in that period, and one of the first things he did was get legislation passed allowing minors accompanied by an adult into the track. At that time, you had to be 21 to get into a track in New England. Now free to attend, I tagged along to Suffolk with my dad, a regular who bet on anything and everything day and night, and was bitten by the bug immediately.Soon after, by 1970 or 1971, I often cut my last class in high school, took the trolley to Suffolk with the tallest kid I knew because he looked old enough to get a bet in, and hid in the deepest, darkest bowels of the grandstand so that my dad wouldnt see me. My dad, who apparently wanted a different life for me, had a box in the clubhouse. And if he caught me at the track on my own, Id be in for it big time.New England in the 1970s was an amazing place for a kid to become immersed in this game. More recent converts might be surprised, and a bit envious, to know that there was day/night Thoroughbred racing all year long, not to mention tons of Greyhound and harness racing, too. But it was all about Thoroughbred racing for me, and for me there was Suffolk or Rockingham Park in New Hampshire in the afternoon, Lincoln Downs or Narragansett Park in Rhode Island at night, and Scarborough Downs at night in the summer in Maine, where the mosquitoes were as big as what passes these days for dogs.There was also Green Mountain in Vermont, the track that was the first east of the Mississippi to offer Sunday racing.And of course, there were the infamous Massachusetts Fairs. The fairs, bullring tracks at actual week-long town fairs, was a circuit of the cheapest racing imaginable that redefined the term larceny, and where the most infirm horses in the world would somehow manage two or three starts a week.dddddddddddd At its peak, the fair circuit consisted of Brockton, Marshfield, Weymouth, Northhampton, Great Barrington, and Berkshire Downs.I wouldnt trade the education I received at these tracks for anything. Or the fun I had. Suffolk and Lincoln or Gansett doubleheaders were commonplace, as were Rockingham and Scarborough doubleheaders. Heck, on some Labor Days, tripleheaders were made. Rockingham always ran a five-race morning card on Labor Day followed by an afternoon card, but you could (and I did) catch Rocks morning card, take in the afternoon card at Suffolk (which foolishly went head to head with Rockingham some years), and then shoot down to Lincoln or Gansett, whichever track was racing.There were also plenty of Saratoga and Green Mountain doubleheaders made. I always found it disconcerting that the jocks at Green Mountain would often play volleyball in the infield in front of the tote board before the races, as friendly as can be, like a family, and then would go out and ride, presumably against each other, for their small cut of a $900 purse.Suffolk was referred to as the Oceanside Oval, which I guess it technically is, but it was never to be confused with Del Mar. The old Rockingham was called the Saratoga of New England. The Rockingham Park prior to the 1980 blaze that took it down was really very nice, but it wasnt Saratoga. And I never had a vivid enough of an imagination to picture Narragansett as host of the famous match race between Alsab and Whirlaway, but it was. Nevertheless, these were great old places.The very first day I received my drivers license, I commandeered by dads car and drove to the Brockton Fair to play the card. And I was there with my dad the last day Berkshire Downs, which at one time claimed Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin as part owners, ever raced. It had to be the last day. There was a giant sinkhole on the track apron that appeared to be expanding so quickly that, given another day, it might have claimed the actual grandstand.With the exception of Suffolk, all of these Thoroughbred tracks have gone the way of Berkshire Downs. They are all gone.I could go on, but I now realize that maybe its a good thing I wont be at Suffolk Saturday. It might be a bit too tough to take for one who knew what New England Thoroughbred racing used to be, and what it is -- barely -- now. 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