CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — On a late-July evening, the most ballyhooed two-sport phenom since Deion Sanders steps into the batter's box at BellSouth Park to lifeless applause.

        Players named Gookie and Wilmy and Corky are the fan favorites of the Chattanooga Lookouts, and three-week loaner Drew Henson is just that, a borrowed bat yet to be embraced. The only hint of hero worship comes after the game, when the player who went 0-for-4 signs the most autographs.

        Much of what is shoved under his pen is Michigan paraphernalia, mostly football cards and mini helmets.

        “You've gotta remember, this is football country,” a local sportswriter says. “Baseball is just what they do to pass the time until football season.”

        For the Reds' high-risk prospect, that season starts now. He left Aug. 1 for Ann Arbor, where he's preparing to be the starting quarterback at the University of Michigan.

        Thus begins the most critical five-month period in Henson's life, perhaps swaying the pendulum for good in the decision of which sport to make his livelihood. The trade which brought him to the Reds' organization last month could be praised or panned depending on the whims of one 20-year-old and his super-scrutinized decision.

The win-win scenario
        What to do? Or rather, who to be: Mike Schmidt? Or Troy Aikman?

HENSON FILE

• Born: Feb. 13, 1980   • Hometown: Brighton, Mich.   • Education: Junior-to-be at the University of Michigan, majoring in general studies, Academic All-Big 10 in 1999; 1998 Brighton (Mich.) High School graduate, co-valedictorian (4.0 GPA), 1360 SAT score.   DREW KNOWS BASEBALL • Played in Major League Baseball All-Star Futures Game, 2000   • USA Today and Baseball America high school player of the year, 1998   • Holds national high school records for career home runs (70), grand slams (10), RBI (290) and runs scored (250)   DREW KNOWS FOOTBALL • Rated the No. 3 player and No.1 pro-style quarterback in the nation by Prep Football Report, 1997   • Rated top football player in the Midwest by SuperPrep and PrepStar, 1997   • Parade All-American as a quarterback, 1997   • First team USA Today All-American as a punter, 1997

        There is no talk of lesser lights, or of failure. Hasn't been for years. Drew Henson is 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, can run 40 yards in 4.6 seconds, can bench-press 275 pounds, can melt hearts with matinee-idol looks and deep blue eyes.

        He's a baseball All-American, a football All-American, an Academic All-American.

        He's apple-pie All-American.

        “He's absolutely a can't-miss guy, whatever he does,” Lookouts manager Mike Rojas said. “And he's very humble. He comes in early and works on his game, and he has been great mixing in with the kids.”

        He plays cards with teammates on the bus, video games in the hotels.

        “He's down to earth,” Lookouts shortstop Gookie Dawkins said. “He calls me every day on the road, asks me if I want to get something to eat. We hang out a lot.”

        He's normal. Except in athletics, where he's a freak.

        Dan Henson, then a San Jose State assistant football coach, suspected something when his son watched films of an upcoming opponent with him and said, “Dad, look at that. Isn't that the basic weakness of the two-deep zone?”

        Drew was 8.

        Playing for a Little League all-star team in Utah, he hit seven home runs in seven consecutive at-bats. When he was 11.

        Nowadays, there is this: a parade of TV trucks from ESPN and CNN, reporters from Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News, converging on Chattanooga to talk to a Double-A third baseman.

        There is Dick Groch — a 19-year scout for the Yankees, who signed both Henson and Derek Jeter and once scouted Ken Griffey Jr. at Moeller — calling Henson potentially their equal. “Those are the three I've seen that are the best at that age,” he said.

        There is Jerry Jones, publisher of the NFL draft guide The Drugstore List, calling Henson as pure a pocket passer as Michigan has had. “He's for real,” Jones said.

        Henson might already have achieved star status in one sport if he wasn't still juggling both, an effort Michigan coach Lloyd Carr has likened to “trying to climb both Mount Everest and Mount Annapurna.”

        NCAA rules allow athletes to be a professional in one sport and play college ball in some other sport. Henson will not try to play both sports professionally.

        He received a $2 million signing bonus from the Yankees in 1998, and their contract stipulated he would receive an additional $2.7 million if he left college football at any point to devote himself to baseball. Two months ago, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said he'd make Henson a Yankee for life if he'd quit football.

        He won't be rushed.

        “If I'm successful — and I plan to be — then money will never be a concern,” Henson said. “It'll basically be which sport I want to get up in the morning and be excited to go to work for the next 10, 15 years.”

The legend
        Groch first saw Henson in a Fourth of July baseball tournament in 1996 in Jackson, Mich.

        “It was like walking into a used-car lot and seeing a brand-new Ferrari,” he said. “It takes your breath away.”

        His senior year, Henson was named USA Today and Baseball America national baseball player of the year and a Parade All-American quarterback.

        He set the national high school record for career home runs, grand slams, RBI and run scored.

        In football, Henson was the top prospect in the Midwest. He was his state's second all-time leading passer in yardage (5,662) and touchdowns (52).

        Florida State coach Bobby Bowden promised not to recruit another QB for two years if Drew accepted his offer of a scholarship. Carr matched that and added a promise not to redshirt him.

        In basketball, Henson was all-state and set a school scoring record, averaging 22 points per game.

        He was a straight-A student, co-valedictorian and scored 1,360 on his SAT.

        “What you can't measure is his maturity, his composure, his ability to handle pressure,” Groch said. “I have never had him demonstrate the awe factor. It's like he knew he was born to do all this.”

        Henson has had to eliminate his dreams one at a time. In basketball, he had the talent to be a Division I point guard. In football, USA Today named him the nation's best high school punter.

        In baseball, he was also a pitcher who threw 95 mph, going 40-7 in his high school career and striking out 528 batters in 285ö innings.

        Lately, though, there have been hiccups in his heroics. Though Henson hit a strong .287 in 59 games this year at AA Norwich (Conn.), he batted .172 in 16 games in Chattanooga. He struck out 100 times in 287 at-bats this year and drew only 24 walks.

        His first two years at Michigan, Henson completed 65 of 134 passes (48.5 percent) for 779 yards in second-string duties, unable to beat out unremarkable starter Tom Brady.

        “I know I love baseball,” he said last December. “I think I love football.”

        He'll know soon. Michigan is picked to win the Big 10 Conference and is ranked in the top six of both national polls.

        “Until I go through a full season as a starter, I won't know if I want to do (football),” he said.

The decision
        Henson was regarded the Yankees' second-best prospect, behind only Triple-A first baseman Nick Johnson. He was the centerpiece in the July 12 trade in which the Reds gave up their top pitcher, Denny Neagle.

        “He's the high-risk, high-reward player in the deal,” Reds general manager Jim Bowden said last month. “He's got a chance to be a star player for a long time if he plays baseball.”

        Likely in baseball's favor: less injury risk and the potential for more money. In football's favor: He'd be rich quicker and could reach the NFL immediately, unlike the minor-league ladder to climb in baseball.

        “If you look at all the kids who are talented both ways, maybe three of every four went to baseball, because it's a better situation,” Jones said.

        Said Henson: “I'm only concerned about this fall. Come January, I'll sit down and figure out what I want do to do the next 12 months. I don't know if there's a decision if that'd be the time to make it, or just extend it one more year.”

        He figures his successes and/or failures will ultimately provide his answer.

        “When it comes time to make my decision, it'll be very easy,” he said. “It'll be clear: "Here's what I'm meant to do.'”

Go Buckeyes
        Many Reds followers double as Ohio State football fans, so they'll have double motivation to root against Michigan this fall. They'll hope to boo Henson out of football so they can cheer him in baseball at the future Great American Ball Park.

        Henson, who has been to Cincinnati just once and never attended a Reds game, laughs at the thought.

        “I don't concern myself with Ohio State fans, because they hate me and anything that has to do with Michigan,” he said. “I guess it's ironic I'm in their system now.”

        Reds fans can be forgiving. After all, Barry Larkin played at Michigan.

        For now, there's this lingering image from a summer night in Chattanooga: Drew Henson, wearing the Lookouts' red hat with a black bill, the white uniform with the thin red pinstripes and black sleeves, and the “C” on the chest. It's nearly identical to what the Reds wear.

        He's a vision in red.

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