Drew Henson

A three-sport star at Brighton High School, Drew Henson’s name appears 26 times in the MHSAA record book for individual baseball achievement. He owns the single-season record for most RBIs (83) and the career records for most base hits (257), most doubles (68), most home runs (70), most grand slams (10), most runs scored (250), most RBIs (290) and most walks (129), all while posting a .527 career batting average and notching 40 wins on the mound. Henson’s career home runs, runs scored and RBIs additionally set national high school baseball records.

In 1998, his senior year, Henson hit .605 and went 14-2, belting 22 home runs and driving in 83 runs, and striking out 20 of 21 batters in an MHSAA postseason game. He was recognized as USA Today’s High School Player of the Year, Baseball America’s High School Player of the Year, and the Gatorade High School Player of the Year.

He went on to choose football over baseball at the college level, competing for the starting quarterback role at the University of Michigan against Tom Brady. But at the same time, he was playing baseball professionally, taken in the third round in 1998 by the New York Yankees. He played in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 1998, the A-Advanced Florida State League in 1999, and the Double-A Eastern League and (after a trade to Cincinnati) Southern League in 2000. That same year, Henson posted a 159.4 passer rating and tossed 18 touchdowns as the Wolverines won a share of the Big Ten title and defeated Auburn in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

He was traded back to the Yankees for 2001 and signed a baseball-only contract, rising up to Triple-A Columbus. He played in three games in the Major Leagues in 2003 and five games in 2003 with the Yankees before announcing his retirement from baseball at the end of the 2003 season. Drafted by the Houston Texas in the sixth round in 2003, Henson played in seven games, making one start, for the Dallas Cowboys in 2004, before appearing in a brief two-game 2008 stint with the Detroit Lions.