It’s Not The Steroids Dr. Tom House, It’s Your Reason For Taking Them

I was floored. Caught totally off guard.

There, in the middle of the USA Today Sports Section, was an article about one of America’s foremost pitching consultants. The author of a dozen baseball pitching books (all of which I’ve read). Nolan Ryan and Mark Prior’s pitching coach. An American baseball pitching institution.

There, in size 18 font, was a headline that read: “Former Pitcher Tom House Describes Past Steroid Use.”

I couldn’t believe it.

Not Tom House. Not the guy who co-founded the National Pitching Association. The guy who worked with Bill Thurston, my pitching instructor of seven years, at the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI). The guy who annually advises hundreds of youth pitchers across the nation on becoming better pitchers.

It was true.

House, a former Major League Baseball pitcher in the 1960s and 1970s and today one of the most widely-recognized pitching coaches, said performance-enhancing drugs were widespread during his career. He said he and several teammates used amphetamines, human growth hormone, and “whatever steroid” they could find in order to keep up with the competition.

“I pretty much popped everything cold-turkey,” House told USA Today in a May 3 article. “We were doing steroids they wouldn’t give to horses. That was the ‘60s. when nobody knew. The good thing is, we know now. There’s a lot more research and understanding.”

House’s comments are the first to disclose of steroid use in baseball as far back as the 1960s. He later said at least six or seven pitchers per team were at least experimenting with steroids or human growth hormone. He said players talked about losing to opponents using more effective drugs.

“We didn’t get beat, we got out-milligrammed,” House said. “And when you found out what they were taking, you started taking them.” He added that steroids added significant body mass gains (30 pounds), but he never topped 82 mph. “I was a failed experiment,” he said.

Now I’m well aware that this article, which broke May 3, is now old news. Since his initial comments, which appeared in both daily newspapers across the country and on ESPN, House has posted a rebuttal on the National Pitching Association’s Web site (nationalpitching.com) in which he says, “I was hoping that others could learn from my experiences in another baseball era. I know that experience is the best teacher. My intent was to basically let the athletes, the parents, and the coaches know that using performance enhancers is a dead end. I know from experience.”

I guess it’s better to ask forgiveness than it is to seek permission (or do the right thing), right?

What bothers me about the whole thing is House’s seemingly blasé attitude. The mentality that ‘because everyone else was doing it, it’s OK to do it, too,’ -- no matter what it is.

That’s disappointing, Mr. House. What message does that send to baseball pitchers, coaches and parents across the country who look to you for advice?

If every one jumped off of a bridge, would YOU do that, too? Is that what you teach your baseball students? Do as I say, not as I do?

And although House said he stopped using steroids after learning about the long-term harm they could cause, it’s his character that’s the most disappointing… and now, we all know where he stands in that department.

Yours in baseball (and character development),

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher ™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
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