Wearing pinstripes and a Yankees cap while sitting in the New York dugout, Drew Henson sure looked like a baseball player.
He just didn't sound ready to rule out a future in American football.
Called up from the minors, the former University of Michigan quarterback joined the Yankees before Friday night's game against the Boston Red Sox and was asked if he had completely closed the door on a possible NFL career.
"I haven't thought that much about it, and I'd rather not go into that right now," Henson said. "Just getting here, being around a playoff-contending team, I'd rather focus on what I have going here. I can say the same thing again -- this is what I'm doing, and I'm going to do it until we get it right."
After he struggled at Triple-A Columbus for the second year in a row, reports in the last week said Henson was ready to give up baseball and head to the NFL. The Houston Texans own his rights after drafting him in the sixth round last April.
"I don't know how these rumors get started, but since the draft -- really, since I left school -- the same question keeps coming up," Henson said. "I'm happy to be here, and I want to help this team any way that's possible. I see the same stuff on TV, and to be honest, I don't know where it comes from."
The 23-year-old third baseman was brought up to provide insurance in the infield. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was not expected to play during the three-game series against Boston because of a strained rib cage, and reserve infielder Erick Almonte was out with a strained right calf.
Henson dressed at a locker next to Roger Clemens, although there was no nameplate on his cubicle yet. He chatted with pitcher Andy Pettitte and other teammates he knows from spring training.
Henson doesn't figure to play much down the stretch unless someone else gets hurt, but manager Joe Torre said he could be his first option as a pinch runner.
Henson hit .234 with 14 homers, 40 doubles and 78 RBIs with the Clippers this season. He also struck out 122 times and made 28 errors at third base.
"I'd like to have had a better season than the numbers finished, but I'm improving, and I think that the people who saw me play every day would agree," he said. "I had limited experience. I felt as if I've been playing catchup from the first day I got to Columbus. I may have been overmatched when I first got there, but I've moved forward."
His path to the majors seemed blocked when the Yankees acquired All-Star third baseman Aaron Boone from Cincinnati on July 31. Henson said he hasn't spoken to the Yankees about his future since the deal, and he's determined to be a big league baseball player.
"This is what I chose to do. Part of it is stubbornness, part of it is to prove people wrong. I feel like I can be a really good player, it's just a matter of harnessing my abilities and allowing them to take over," Henson said. "The reason I play baseball is because I love to do it. I grew up doing it and it's my chosen profession. I'm a baseball player, first and foremost."
Henson signed a US$17 million, six-year contract with the Yankees when he left college after his junior season in 2001, and was considered the Yankees' third baseman of the future.
He said he has no deadline in mind for sticking in the majors -- even if it's not with New York.
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