Tom House (Still) Reinvents Pitching with the Mustard App


It almost defies belief, but in Ryan’s first two seasons at the club, five of the Rangers’ nine main pitchers – the other four, Hough, Rogers, Kevin Brown and Jamie Moyer – played into their 40s. Ryan, Hough and Moyer make their list of the eight oldest actors of the modern era. Right and left were control artists and fireballers, each looking for ways to extend their careers. Whatever their demographics, they had one thing in common: They all learned how to maintain their shooting guns from Tom House.

Randy Johnson was struggling. It was 1992 and Johnson, a long left-handed with a Ryan-like fastball, was in his fourth major league season. However, his abilities were undermined by a profound lack of control. At 6 feet 10 inches, Johnson had a lot of moving parts for consistent coordination. When the Rangers arrived in Seattle that August, Johnson was 2-7 in his previous nine starts, posting a 5.46 ERA while shooting 52 in 56 hits.

Credit…Tony Bock/Toronto Star via Getty Images

House and Ryan knew from the visitors’ shelter what she was going through. House had followed Johnson, a University of Southern California graduate, since the shooter’s college days. Ryan was once a wild fire collector and led the league in marches eight times in an 11-year span. However, in 1989, Ryan’s first season at House, the 42-year-old scored just 98 goals while scoring 300 for the first time in ten years.

He and House wanted to help Johnson. A meeting was arranged early in the morning, before anyone else arrived at the Kingdome. The three men talked about Johnson’s mechanical problems, and House made a primary suggestion: He wanted Johnson to land on the toe instead of his heel as he walked towards the plate. Results were immediately available.

“I was losing my armhole, I was falling to the third base side, and this tip helped me stay balanced,” Johnson said. “I didn’t play for the Texas Rangers, but Tom still helped me. This meeting was extremely effective.”

Johnson closed his season with 117 in 11 innings, shaving just 47 walks and nearly two full runs of his ERA.



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