Jabari Henry was like every son who watched their father excel at sport in that he wanted to be just like his dad. In his case, his father played pro basketball, so Jabari wanted to do the same.
While he played basketball in high school, he also played baseball, and the end of the former overlapped with the start of the latter, so he always had continuity between the two.
But in his sophomore year, a new coach arrived, and that was a signal for the young athlete.
“Maybe I need to stick with baseball,” he told me in our interview.
That was a great decision because baseball is something he’s still doing and doing well as a member of the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association.
Most have never heard of Jabari Henry, the American Association or the Sioux Falls Canaries for that matter, but all three are baseball entities that you should know.
The American Association was first formed in 1902 and has had many iterations over the next century until settling in to its current form in 2005, the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball Leagues.
The Sioux Falls Canaries is one of the 12 teams in the league.
And Jabari is one of the league’s biggest stars and like Barry Bonds, his favorite player, its home run king.
On May 29th, Jabari, now in his ninth season in the Association, broke the Association’s home run record with his 147th blast in the third inning. He would also go on to hit his 148th that night as well.
While his power makes him a crowd favorite, it’s who he is that truly endears him to fans across the league.
He carries a big smile to complement the power he unleashes at the plate, something that he’s done almost every season.
“Jabari Henry is a fan favorite all over the American Association, and we couldn’t be more excited that he now has the home run record,” said Joshua Schaub, American Association commissioner. “He is such a tremendous representative of the league and how our players really connect with their communities.”
Growing up in Florida, Jabari came from an athletic family as his entire family played sports.
But after making the decision to focus on baseball, he began the arduous task of committing all of his time and energy to the sport.
“It was non-stop baseball,” he said. “It was travel ball, high school ball, pre-season games, whatever it was, I had to do it.”
As time went on, he began to attract attention and that led to the stressful recruiting period all great athletes face.
“It was Florida State, LSU, all the Florida schools. It came down to FSU, FIU and I was talking a little bit to Samford and Alabama. I was going to go to Florida State, but with the scholarship, I was better off at FIU.”
He obviously made the right choice. Not just because he’s still playing pro ball, but also because he played for coach Turtle Thomas, who he called “one of the best coaches ever.”
Jabari had a great freshman year, and ended up playing in the Cape Cod league, which is known as one of the best collegiate summer baseball leagues in the country.
