so Tom Brady was better than Drew Henson at football and baseball?
Better than all of us. NFL GOAT, 5 rings, super model wife, rich, good looking...
but can he down a pint in 2 seconds or less? I think not.
To be fair, Henson would have probably been the #1 overall MLB pick in '98 if he'd committed to baseball (he was a 1st-rounder anyway), and set some national records in high school, while according to this article, Brady was a 2nd or 3rd round-caliber guy (falling to 18th round because of football).
Per the story, the scout from the Expos left Brady with several Expos to chat him up and make him feel at home.
“We were telling him,” Santangelo says, “ ‘Why would you make $800 a month in the minor leagues when you can be the quarterback at the University of Michigan? You’re a good-looking guy, you can probably have a lot of fun off the field, too.’ … We told him: ‘Go play football at Michigan! Are you kidding me?’ ”
Smart guys!
I will say that if I played for the Expos in the early to middle 1990s, I probably would have told people to seek their fortunes elsewhere too.
In all seriousness though, in a way I am doubly glad that Tom Brady made the call that he did and came to Ann Arbor now.
Actually the Expos were really good at that time. They had the best record in baseball in 1994 when the strike happened, which started a bunch of falling dominoes that finally ended with the franchise leaving. If there had been no strike that year, I'm quite certain the franchise would still be there.
If he preferred baseball, he had a pretty high ceiling, and could have focused on baseball rather than school + football. It's not like he came to Michigan with a guarantee that he would become the starting QB. Even when he was there, he was neck-and-neck with Henson (who definitely came in as more of a "golden boy" than Brady).
In hindsight, it's easy to say that Brady made the right choice. And most of us on the board would have made the same choice. But Brady had a realistic shot to be a star in the MLB, and it would not have been irrational to chase that.
Good point, but Lloyd did screw up Brady's last year when he was outplaying Henson and still having to share time. It was not a "meritocracy." The decision just looks a lot dumber in hindsight with all the success Brady's had.
I'm surprised how many of our own fans have the story wrong.
they both had 0 Superbowl wins.
They both HAD 0 when they were battling for the job, & if you think that Carr was dumb for not being able to predict that, then I don't know what to tell you.
Henson was a very good college quarterback & Brady lost the very next game after our national championship to freakin' Syracuse.
Why am I explaining this to you?
You play baseball because you can have a longer career. Everybody knows you can't play football for more than 3-4 years. Virtually impossible to play any longer. And baseball players get all the good looking women. And baseball players make more money. Tons of reasons...
Between that and the lower risk of serious injury, I'd choose baseball too.
Interesting that F.P. Santangelo's mother went to U-M. It was fortuitous for us that he was asked to chaperone Brady around that day.
as a baseball player and recognized football talent. The story behind his signing with the Expos is very cool.
I mean I umpired high school games that Drew Henson played as both a junior and senior in high school. Henson also played basketball at Brighton High School, and was pretty good in that sport as well. But in baseball, he starred as both a power hitter, shortstop and pitcher. As a senior, Henson set a national high school record for home runs, and his fastball was clocked at 90-plus mph. He played short, first and third for his high school team depending on the situaton and who was pitching.
And he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated the spring before his freshman year at Michigan. Heson was on everyone's mind as an incoming player.
Brady, by contrast, was a non-entity. During media day, he couldn't draw a fly to his table where he sat giving autographs. He was a skinny backup on the bench at Michigan his first year. I still remember watching him warmup before the biggest game I've ever seen at Michigan, the day Woodson iced the Heisman against Ohio State. That day Brady threw the ball just like he does now with the Pats before and during the game.
Henson was a much bigger deal in both sports than Brady during high school, and heading into his first year at Michigan. And, of course, it was this kind of attention and media speculation about his talent that shaded Brady, at least among the fan base until he proved himself. And Brady's first start against Notre Dame in South Bend did not go well, leading to calls for Carr to play Henson, which after a disaterous start against Syracuse the following week, only increased the debate even though Henson was just as ineffective against the Orangemen.
Part of the issue, in the fan base divide, was the fact that these guys came to Ann Arbor before the internet changed the complexion of recruiting and player recognition. We just didn't know that much about Brady or his signing. And this lack of knowledge has actually been a part of his greater legacy at the school adding to the alure of his current status.
Brady's high school exploits and his physical presence was just not the same as Henson's. One thing you couldn't help but notice about him though are the skills everyone recognizes today. He had a rocket arm and he was just smart and persistent as hell about pushing for an opportunity to play and his incredible discipline and desire to become the best he could be.
The guy would bug his teammates about watching hours upon hours of film. I don't think any Michigan qb ever worked harder in studying opponents and defensive tendencies to imrove his game. I mean he used to absolutely annoy his Oline teammates about film study.
at Serra High School was taken in front of the scoreboard at Danny Frisella Field.
Danny Frisella was a hard-throwing righthand pitcher who died in 1977 after a New Years Day dune buggy accident.
It ended a once bright pro career that began with MLB debut in July 1967 as a New York Met. After a rapid advance through the minors following his drafting in the third round in 1966 and leading the Washington State Cougars to the college World Series in 1965, Frisella pitched flawlessly in three relief appearances before getting his first start.
His work as a starter for the Mets never bore out, going 1-6 his rookie season. He would ptich for the Mets through 1972 but never experience the real personal success his team achieved even with his considerable help. He would pitch on the same staff as Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Tug McGraw and Jerry Koosman.
He would develop a devastating forkball (split finger) out-pitch alongside fellow hard-throwing Californians, Seaver and Dick Selma. He would form a dynamic righty-lefty relief duo in 1971 with McGraw before finally being traded to the Braves for Felix Milan and George Stone, a trade that woud help the Mets overtake the Pirates in September 1972 and propel them to the World Series after a surprising upset of the Big Red Machine Cincinnatti Reds before succumbing in seven games to the great Oakland Athletics.
So, his time with the Mets would come full circle after it became clear his best work was as a reliever and he would go on to pitch for the Braves, Padres, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. He would end his career with a less than stellar 34-40 record, which means nothing for a reliever.
He was a specialist rather than a closer and ended with a 3.47 era. His success, ironically, never coincided with his team's success. But he still made a mark. And the irony of course is that Brady played at the same high school as a kid who then went to Michigan at the same school that produced the Mets current owner who financed the fields and improvements to Michigan's softball program.
Brady would succeed at Michigan even while Derek Jeter would come to watch Michigan play during his career and Brady would hail Henson as one of the best athletes he'd ever seen, and highly praise him long after his pro career with the Yankees was cut short and ushered in a premature John Navarre era because Ohio State graduate and Yankee owner George Steinbrenner traded for Henson's rights as a baseball player after his junior year at Michigan. And then Henson was gone.
So, Brady had his picture taken at Serra High School on Danny Frisella Field. It's a small world after all.