Tom House

I have House books, taken a personal lesson with him, and took lessons with an NPA instructor from ages 8-18. I admire Tom House and especially the way he tries to polish the pitching motion - through research.

I had to get away from some things I'd learned with him to be compatible with virtually any college pitching coach. The main qualm has been with lifting balanced (House opposes this) and stride length (somewhat related, House seeks to maximize it while others are less concerned with that)

We are big Tom House fans too. So when you say "retired," do you mean "retired from USC," or hanging up the cleats for good?

May 24, 2011

LOS ANGELES -- Tom House, who spent four seasons at USC (2008-11) as an assistant baseball coach, announced his retirement today from coaching, effective after the Trojans' final game of the season on Sunday. He will focus his attention on the RDRBI (Rod Dedeaux Research for Baseball Institute) and serve as a non-coaching Life Skills Advisor to the USC program.

"This was the most rewarding coaching experience of my career," said House. "I was trying in a small way to do for these kids what Rod Dedeaux did for me here. It was extremely fulfilling."

House pitched for USC in 1967, going 5-3 with a 1.43 ERA in 94 2/3 innings.

After being selected by the Atlanta Braves in the third round (48th overall) of the 1967 secondary draft, House made his major league debut in 1971. He would play through the 1978 season with career stops at Atlanta, Boston and Seattle. In his 289 major league appearances, House compiled a 29-23 record with a 3.79 ERA and 33 saves.

His historic tie to baseball came on April 8, 1974, when he caught Hank Aaron's 715th home run ball in the Braves' bullpen in left field. Photos of him catching the ball and presenting it to Aaron are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. During that season, House recorded his best season as a pro after going 6-2 with a 1.93 ERA and 11 saves (56 games, 102 2/3 IP, 74 H, 27 BB, 64 SO). House worked as a pitching coach for the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers.

He has been instrumental in researching ways to improve the health and performance of pitchers at all levels. Prior to joining the USC staff, he was the founder and CEO of the National Pitching Association, based in San Diego, which provided pitchers, parents and coaches with three-dimensional motion analysis, functional strength screens, mental/emotional profiles and nutritional assessments.

In his four seasons as USC's pitching coach, one of his best seasons came in 2009 when his pitching staff recorded a 4.06 ERA, which tied USC for 10th in the nation.

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House graduated from USC in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in management. He earned his first master's degree in marketing in 1974 and his second master's degree in performance psychology in 1981 before earning his doctorate based in psychology in 1984.

I got to know Tom House a little bit. A good friend of mine was certified by House, and I spent many hours with him analyzing pitchers according to House's principles.

I think his mechanical theories are very interesting. His conditioning routines also are quite involved and thought out.

He is an interesting fellow.

Yes he is.He and his wife are lovely people.Ill miss them.

In 1997, we conducted the Area Code games at San Diego State and Jack Murphy Stadium.

We had 13 teams and two playing venues. The morning before the games, Reggie Waller the Scouting Director of the Padres called me at my hotel.

"Bob, we cannot have the Tom House clinic at Jack Murphy Stadium" I said why not? Reggie, the Navy Seals have a practice jump into the stadium.
I said; "do not tell anyone" I want credit for this promotion.

At 1 PM, the Navy Seals jumped into orange markers and I receive a standing ovation from the 200 pro scouts and college coaches.

Thank you Tom House for being patient.Your clinic was outstanding.

Bob

I met Tom House at the Padres spring training camp in Yuma, AZ in my 20's. At the time he was a minor league pitching coach. A friend and I were wandering around the minor league workouts after watching the Padres spring training game.

Tom House leaned against the backstop next to us. I said hello. I mentioned I remembered when he pitched for the Red Sox. He laughed. He said he was surprised I knew his last name. "By the time they said 'Now pitching Tom' the stadium was echoing in boos." House had a couple of good years for the Braves before being traded to the Red Sox and bombing out. After chatting for a while he invited us to help ourselves to dinner along with the minor leaguers.

SP_Son started taking lessons from a local coach who has been heavily influenced by Coach House back in 2005. Prior to that time, I had never heard of Tom House or the National Pitching Association, but the 4" scar on my left shoulder told me that what my son was learning from his coach was the right way to go.

In the summer of 2006, Coach House conducted a camp in Bethesda, MD, and SP_Son got to work with him in person for the first time. Since then, SP_son has had the opportunity to work with Coach House on a few other occasions, and each time he has walked away with a wealth of knowledge, and more motivated than ever to become the best Pitcher and ball player he can become. Coach House is an absolutely terrific teacher, and his passion for the game, pitching, and the kids he Coaches is obvious to anybody who spends 5 minutes with him.

Coach House even took time out of his busy schedule to give my son telephone interview for a research paper he wrote for school about steroids in baseball.

Like every other “guru” in the game, Coach House has his fans and his detractors. My experience is that virtually all of the “anti-House” people I have ever met have no idea what he teaches, or the research that backs his work. In fact, most tell me all the “new” knowledge about Pitcher development that makes Coach House obsolete, without knowing that what they are espousing has been what has been coming out of the NPA and RDRBI for the past 6+ years.

Last year, my son attended a pitching camp led by one of the premier collegiate Pitching Coaches in the country. In speaking with this Coach it became clear that he was not a fan of Coach House. That said, my son loved the camp and told me when it was over that 90%+ of what this Coach was teaching was exactly what he has learned from Coach House, just under a different name. We have seen that a lot.

All I know is that since 2005, SP_Son has enjoyed a great deal of success on the mound, and in the game – much more than most would have ever predicted – and that we attribute much of his success to Coach House, his research, his teaching, his Coaching, and his ability to inspire young players.

I for one am thankful for all that Coach House has done for the game, the Art & Science of Pitching … and one young southpaw in particular. We look forward to seeing more come from his work at the RDRBI and the NPA.

South paw,

Agree with everything you said. My son has said the best camp experience he ever had was going to a Tom House clinic on pitching as a 9 year old. Not only did Tom teach about pitching mechanics, the clinic helped my son learn how to throw as a position player without over stressing his arm.

Putting aside the people with opinoins on the latest and greatest mechanics, Tom House is a very good guy and has alwayws been honest about his own mistakes and things he's learned along the way as a player, coach and father.

Class guy.

southpaw_dad, our boys were both at that 2006 clinic in Bethesda! How funny.

LHPMom -- Congratualtions to your son and his fellow Cadets for winnin the WCAC. Had the real estate market been a little different a few years ago, our boys would have been teammates these past few years. Two "Tom House" lefties on the same staff ... that's a tough combo to beat

Thanks so much! Those boys are still flying high. I feel the same way you do -- all my son's success can be attributed to Tom House and the coaches who follow his teachings.

I have had the good fortune to talk with Tom House a few times. He had just finished up speaking at a clinic and was walking through the hall way. I told him I enjoyed his talk. Being a pitching guy I asked a couple questions and got some good ideas. I told him thank you and didn't want to keep him from where he was going. He said he loved to talk pitching and kept going. A couple other coaches were walked up and he talked with is for 45 minutes about pitching. My other story about him is he grew in La Puente, Ca as did I which I would am not thrilled about the area now. My nephew was at a clinic he was giving in Northern California. My bro in law spoke mentioned to him he grew up near him too. They talked about the area and shared some funny stories. Later that year I am at another clinic and just thanked him for the clinic. I mentioned my bro in law who went to Workman HS in LP and he said Oh, the dentist from Northern California. Don;t know how he remembered. He was always gracious.