Originally published in the July 2016 issue of Yankees Magazine
This was a story that I wanted to write for a long time. When I arrived at the University of Michigan as a freshman in 1999, I was at most a passing college football fan. It just wasn’t something that I grew up with in New Jersey. So for my first game, against Notre Dame, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was walking into. It was the best kind of shock — I loved every second of that game, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
I also walked into a QB controversy that has remained somewhat legendary among football fans. On one side was Tom Brady, a workmanlike QB who could get the job done, but who wasn’t ever going to set the world on fire. The guy holding the clipboard (and therefore, the guy the fans wanted to see) was the hotshot sophomore Drew Henson.
The two split time — Brady would play the first quarter, Henson the second, then, supposedly, coach Lloyd Carr would choose the QB who had done better to play the second half. It was almost always Brady. And obviously, everyone knows what happened later for that guy. Seems he did OK for himself.
The next year, despite an early season injury, Henson was remarkable. He came back against Illinois and saved that game, and then was terrific the rest of the way, as the Wolverines went 9-3 and won the Citrus Bowl. The next year was setting up to be something truly special, but then — after saying he was going to stick around — Henson left to play baseball, taking Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s money, and breaking every Michigan fan’s heart. It was unforgivable, and most people never forgave him.
Nothing at all came of his baseball career, and when I caught up with him, he was scouting for the Yankees, going around the country to see size up players who were doing considerably better than he ever did.
I pitched him the story — could I join him for a trip, being a fly on the wall as he went about his work. He seemed hesitant, but he agreed, and off I went to St. Louis, where I met up with him, then rode with him to Kansas City the next day. It was an amazing trip — I learned so much about the game, about how every single thing that happens on the field means something, about how many moving parts there are. I watch a lot of baseball, and I think I have a generally good handle on the sport, but I couldn’t believe the way that someone in Henson’s position saw things unfold.
For the story, I tried to combine the two pieces of my history with Drew — the college story and the professional experience. I hope it worked; I was really trying to paint my own obsessions as being pathetic, not in any way to judge him.
I hope you enjoy it.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/189248494/former-yankees-prospect-drew-henson-now-scout/
