Drew Henson had a lot to say about his career that wasn’t, and those he met along the way.
On his life
“Do I trade [my life]? It is tough. Do you trade it for the success we all want as kids and financial security? I love who I am. I love the experiences I have. I wouldn’t have met my wife if I hadn’t gone to Dallas. I have these life experiences that are unique to me. And I have tons of friends from a ton of different places who still respect me and to me that means a lot.”
On looking back
“If I went back and could tell myself one thing, I would go back and tell myself to be patient. To not try to control the situation and sometimes just let things play out. And that probably would have meant playing my senior year at Michigan and see what happens. And that probably means I would have gone and played football.”
On whether he thinks he would have been a successful major leaguer if he had stuck with baseball
“Yes, I do. I never took a hitting lesson. My dad’s a football coach and was throwing me batting practice every day and twice on Sundays. I think if I were a baseball player, Kris Bryant and I have the same type of skill set. I think I could have played third base or right field. I wish as a young player I knew what I know now, especially breaking in as a young player with the Yankees.”
On Derek Jeter
“With Derek, what you see is what you get. He is the same off the baseball field as on. There would be times when I was in New York, like 20-21 years old, and at the end of the evening I would get a text or a call, and it was Derek making sure I got back safe. Who does that? ‘Good, are you home. All right, I’ll check in with you later.’
“And when I was coaching [for the Yankees], how great he was with the young players, just like he was with me. I might ask him about his approach at the plate or I might ask him about when he was rehabbing one year. And the knowledge he has and the way he handles the young guys. You might have a guy who is a little bit heavy, and he jabs him a little to get on the scale. He just has a way of leading without trying, it is just in his personality. Everyone is always watching what he is doing, and he is one of those guys who would do anything for the game or for the players.”
More on Jeter
“I remember when I was 19 and was around the cage with him during spring training or something, and someone asked him what he would think about at the plate. I remember his answer was so quick and profound. He said, ‘I look fastball down the middle every time.’ And he’d laugh about it but meant it. For him, he didn’t want to overcomplicate things, and it worked. He’d be open about it. If a pitcher was tipping he didn’t want to know cause he’d screw it up, he said.
“Come 15 years later, I’ve got some of the young hitters over at the complex, and I tee him up, ask him what he thinks about at the plate. He says the exact same thing. ‘I look fastball down the middle every time.’ It didn’t shock me but just is an example of how he was able to trust and stick to his plan. The ability to keep outside or unimportant thoughts out of your mind and stay in the moment.”
On George Steinbrenner
“A Mr. Steinbrenner story, in the summer of 1998, after the draft, the Yankees flew my family down to Tampa. I got to work out with the team when they were visiting at the Trop, and we also got to have lunch with Mr. Steinbrenner. So we go to the back room at the old Malio’s and it’s the Boss, Cash, Mark Newman, my parents and I and maybe a couple others. Everything is going well and small talk, etcetera, and about a third of the way through lunch, my mother, who has a master’s degree and has been an educator and coach forever, looks over and says, ‘So George … how do you feel about your character on Seinfeld?’ Oh my gosh, I almost died. After the longest pause, he just burst out laughing and said he loves it. After that he would ask how my mother was doing every time he saw me. Crazy.”
On Jerry Jones
“Jerry is great. Jerry is exactly like you think he’d be. He loves his players and will do anything to win.”
On Alex Rodriguez
“I had a great conversation with Alex one night. Jeter and A-Rod were both injured [in 2013], and we went down the street in Tampa to watch some of the NBA Finals. And Alex wanted to talk to me about college football. He loves college football. It was the three of us and [Andy] Pettitte. Both Alex and Derek are injured and we are in the same locker room over at Himes [Field in Tampa, when Henson was a minor league hitting coach]. It is the NBA Finals, so we go to a sports bar down on Howard. And Alex is asking me about playing Michigan quarterback. I know he had played quarterback [in high school]. I have seen the tape. He would have been a great quarterback. But he tells me the one thing he misses most is that he didn’t go to college. He loved football. He wanted that college experience. But he was the No. 1 pick [in baseball]. His destiny was set for him. But he was really interested to hear about the college experience and playing football.”