Henry Odong

Henry Odong (Bouncer)

• Height 6' 5"

• High School Mehta Secondary School

• Born ~1978

Biographical Information

Henry Odong was introduced to baseball by American missionaries in Uganda. He wound up being the first pitcher in the history of the Ugandan national team. When Uganda made their debut in the 1999 All Africa Games, Odong got the start against Nigeria. He lasted 2 2/3 IP and allowed 10 hits, 3 walks and 9 earned runs (and probably a fair number of unearned runs), striking out two; Paul Ochola relieved. He started the next day as well and went the distance in a mercy rule loss to Ghana (5 IP, 15 H, 7 BB, 4 K, 27 R, 16 ER). After one day without pitching, he was back on the hill with a third start, facing Zimbabwe. He pitched 3 innings, surrendering 11 hits, 7 walks and 25 runs (10 earned) before Rockfeller Erima relieved. While he started 3 of their 5 games on the hill, Erima wound up pitching more innings in the event (15 2/3 to 10 2/3) as they were pretty much a two-man staff, Ochola working 1 1/3 IP and no one else pitching at all. Odong also played second base two games. He was 0 for 8 with a RBI, 3 errors and was caught stealing once.

Odong, working as an engineer off the field, continued to work on baseball development. He coached the Ugandan entry that played in the 2012 Little League World Series, a first Little League World Series trip for an African team. Odong later coached for Uganda when they finished second in the 2019 Africa Cup Baseball Championship.

Sources

• 1999 All Africa Games
• New York Times article from 2012
• Odong's facebook page