 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Tom House" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Tom House | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: (1947-04-29)April 29, 1947 (age 77) Seattle, Washington, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| June 23, 1971, for the Atlanta Braves | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 29, 1978, for the Seattle Mariners | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 29–23 |
| Earned run average | 3.79 |
| Strikeouts | 261 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
Thomas Ross House (born April 29, 1947) is an American former left-handedrelief pitcher inMajor League Baseball, as well as an author and apitching coach.
House pitched atNogales High School (La Puente, California) and theUniversity of Southern California, before theAtlanta Braves selected him with the 48th overall pick of the 1967 draft's secondary phase, as part of the draft's third round. He had passed up an earlier chance to turn pro two years before, when theChicago Cubs used the 201st overall pick to take him in the 11th round of the June draft's main phase.
Advancing quickly through the Braves' system, House made his major league debut on June 23, 1971, pitching one inning in relief ofPat Jarvis in the seventh inning of a 6–3 loss to theMontreal Expos.[1] Relying mainly on acurveball and ascrewball, House was an important part of the Braves' bullpen in the mid-1970s. His best season was 1974, when he pitched 102⅔innings, all in relief, with a 1.93earned run average (ERA) and a 0.98walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) ratio. His 38 games finished ranked seventh in theNational League, and his 11 saves were good for fifth. House also ranked among the league leaders in those categories in 1975, when his 45 games finished ranked third, and his 11 saves placed tenth.
House was traded from the Braves to theBoston Red Sox forRoger Moret on December 12, 1975. At the time, the Red Sox had a surplus ofstarting pitchers and needed more bullpen depth.[2] After he spent 1976 in Boston, the Red Sox sold his contract to theSeattle Mariners, anexpansion team, early in the 1977 season. House concluded his major league career after two seasons with the Mariners in 1977 and 1978. He retired with 29 wins, 23 losses, 34 saves, and a 3.79 ERA in 536 major league innings.
After his retirement as a player, House became a pitching coach. In addition toBachelor of Science in marketing andMaster of Business Administration degrees from USC, House holds aPh.D. in sports psychology from U.S. International University (nowAlliant International University).[3][4] Early in his career, he employed what were thought of as unusual methods at the time, but have since been adopted by the baseball community at large such as having pitchers under his tutelage throw afootball.[5]
House became the pitching coach for theTexas Rangers in 1985, during which time he was notable for his work withNolan Ryan. During Ryan's induction into theBaseball Hall of Fame on July 25, 1999, he credited House as a positive influence on his career, saying:
While I was [with the Rangers] I was very fortunate to have a pitching coach by the name of Tom House. And Tom and I are of the same age and Tom is a coach that is always on the cutting edge. And I really enjoyed our association together and he would always come up with new training techniques that we would try and see how they would work in to my routine. And because of our friendship and Tom pushing me, I think I got in the best shape of my life during the years that I was with the Rangers.[6]
House has also worked as a coach for theHouston Astros,San Diego Padres,Chunichi Dragons, andChiba Lotte Marines. He is an advisor with theAmerican Sports Medicine Institute, and is the co-founder of theNational Pitching Association. Through the NPA, he runs a series of camps and clinics for athletes, and markets a series of instructional videos for young baseball players. House has also written or co-written nineteen instructional books on baseball, as well as an autobiography.
In 1998, theAmerican Baseball Coaches Association presented House with a lifetime achievement award.
House served as pitching coach for theUSC Trojans from 2008-2011, when he retired from coaching.[7]
In 2008, House worked as a consultant and pitching coach for the reality program The Million Dollar Arm. In this capacity, he trained two young Indian prospects,Rinku Singh andDinesh Patel over a period of seven months. At the end of that time he had raised the velocity of both prospects' fastballs to major league levels, and the two signed professional baseball contracts with thePittsburgh Pirates' organization.[8] The story of The Million Dollar Arm is dramatized in theDisney movie of the same name.
Recently, House has worked with several NFL quarterbacks, including,Dak Prescott,Drew Brees,Tom Brady,[9]Alex Smith,[10]Carson Palmer,Cody Kessler,Matt Cassel,Jared Goff,Marcus Mariota,Andrew Luck,Jimmy Garoppolo,Carson Wentz,Terrelle Pryor,Tim Tebow,Andy Dalton,[11]Blake Bortles,[12]Matt Ryan,[13][14] andMac Jones.
House has been called the "father of modern pitching mechanics," and a "professor of throwing." House was one of the first to blend scientific based pitching study into methodologies for pitchers. He has led elite coaching to become scientific instead of guesswork. He has developed a model that is focused on quantifying the movement in each athlete's motion, then using drills and exercises to maximize accuracy and velocity and minimize strain on player's bodies.[15][16]
House has been one of the first to adopt "Neurophysiology," by pairing his mechanics and motion analysis with functional fitness to address an athlete's functional strength inefficiencies, sleep and nutrition to recover faster, and data driven mental and emotional assessment to uncover how athletes deal with the stress and anxiety of competition.[17][18]
House has admitted to usinganabolic steroids in the 1970s, making him one of the earliest players to admit to using performance-enhancing drugs. In an interview with theSan Francisco Chronicle, he described his use of steroids as "a failed experiment", although he increased from around 190 pounds to around 220 while using them. He viewed the experience as a failure since the extra muscle did not enhance his substandard 82-MPHfastball, while the drugs contributed to knee problems, eventually necessitating a total of seven operations. He claims to have stopped using them after learning in college classes during the off-season about the potential long-term effects of steroid use.
House has stated that "six or seven" pitchers on every major league staff in the 1970s were "fiddling" with steroids orhuman growth hormone. He attributes players' willingness to experiment with performance-enhancing substances to the permissiveness of thedrug culture of the 1960s, and he believed that steroid use declined in Major League Baseball since the 1970s, as players have become more aware of the potential long-term drawbacks.[19]
House andHank Aaron were both members of the Braves in 1974, the season when Aaron brokeBabe Ruth's record for careerhome runs. Aaron hit the record-setting 715th home run in the fourth inning of a game against theLos Angeles Dodgers, on April 8, 1974, against pitcherAl Downing. The ball landed in the Braves' bullpen in left-center field, where it was caught on the fly by House.Bill Buckner, then the Dodgers' left fielder, climbed to the top of the fence and begged House for the ball. The game stopped to celebrate the achievement, and after sprinting to the infield, House presented the ball to Aaron at home plate. His only payment was a TV given by a local store.[20]
House was portrayed byBill Paxton in the Disney filmMillion Dollar Arm.
| Preceded by | Texas Rangerspitching coach 1985–1992 | Succeeded by |