Henry: 'It's a Game of Failure, but You Just Stick to it Because You Love it So Much'
6/23/2019 2:50:00 PM | Baseball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
OMAHA, Neb. -- Tommy Henry is about to pitch the biggest game of his life, while coming off the best game he's ever pitched.
How much better can it get than that?
Henry produced a masterpiece against Florida State in the second game of the College World Series -- nine innings of three-hit shutout ball with zero walks and 10 strikeouts -- and gets the ball again Monday night (June 24) in the opener of the best-of-three championship series against No. 2 Vanderbilt.
Henry
The 6-foot-3 left-hander from Portage (Michigan) Northern High is experiencing the whirlwind that comes with such success, and has received countless texts, phone calls, hugs and handshakes over the past week.
Yet, the reaction he cherishes most is that of his mother's mother in Southern California, "Grandma Couzens" he calls her, watching his performance against the Seminoles on television.
"I got a picture of Grandma Couzens from California," said Henry. "She's in a nursing home right now and I haven't gotten to see her in a long time. I wish I could've gotten to see her on our team's trips to California, but she's 90 and not very mobile right now.
"We chat every once in a while, but just to see a picture of her sitting in front of her TV, by herself, tuned into the game, was pretty cool. It really makes me smile."
It also brought some tears to his eyes, and he wiped them away while smiling.
His college career is turning out just as he'd hoped when committing to the Wolverines all the way back in his sophomore year.
He's 11-5 and one win away from sharing the single-season pitching victory mark with teammate Karl Kauffmann -- one of the main reasons he chose the Wolverines -- and Rich Stoll, who won a dozen in both 1982 and 1983.
Henry broke the school's single-season strikeout mark against FSU, and is at 127 and counting. His 3.27 earned-run average isn't bad, and his five strikeouts for every walk provides a very impressive ratio.
He's making the Arizona Diamondbacks very glad they drafted him in the second round, and if the selections had been delayed to this week, he might've jumped well into the first round. That's because he's been nothing short of dynamic the last two weeks -- he also handcuffed No. 1 UCLA for the second time this season in the game that decided the Super Regional and got Michigan here.
Making his seven innings against the Bruins, when he allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out six with zero walks, even more impressive was the fact that he was still recovering from the flu and a touch of pneumonia that had him confined to his hotel room and wearing a mask to keep from spreading the virus.
Nothing, it seems, can stop him right now.
These are mountain-top times for Henry, but when we sat down Sunday afternoon at the team hotel, we also discussed the days when he was deep in a valley of despair, wondering if he was good enough to do what he's doing now.
He addressed pitching and failing for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the highly-competitive Cape Cod Baseball League after his freshman year, when he was 3-1 with a 3.19 ERA but didn't earn a start for the Wolverines.
It was a topic prompted when Henry was asked about what makes him tick, and what is at the core of who he is.
"I think it's a combination of doubt and adversity," said Henry. "I was really struggling and having some long nights. You look in the mirror and ask, 'How much do I love this?' I thought of the young kid who dreamed this from when he was 2 years old and would stand out in his driveway and throw the tennis ball against the bricks for hours on end."
He paused and his eyes welled up again.
"I'm getting emotional right now," Henry said. "But I think of those things that are hard to put into words. It's the experience of that, when from such a young age you want to be so good at this game and have success.
"And it's hard. It's a game of failure, but you just stick to it because you love it so much."
The lowest point came two years ago at about this time with Yarmouth-Dennis.
"That was the toughest time of my life," said Henry. "Toward the end of my season at Michigan, I was coming out of the bullpen and my performance began to taper off. I let that affect my confidence. So, I headed out to the Cape Cod League and I had these thoughts: 'Am I good enough? These guys are so good. Can I hang with them?'
"My first few outings, I got shelled. Surprise, surprise. Then there was this stretch of 30 days and 22 games where I didn't play, my name didn't get called in the bullpen, and rightfully so. I counted those days and games on the whiteboard at the house of my hosts, the Holmes family. I'd come home and they'd say, 'How did you do today?' I'd say, 'I didn't pitch, but we won.'
"I really let that affect my psyche and I was really questioning myself, if I could hang at this level. And, so, I remember riding my host brother's bike to the gym one day in the morning before a game during that stretch, and I had music in my headphones. It was probably Drake, I get caught up in the words of those songs, and listening to those lyrics it just hit me. 'I really do love this game. I'm going to get out of this and figure it out.'"
Kauffmann, also his Yarmouth-Dennis teammate, "helped me so much" through the struggles "and was really there for me." Henry said he didn't open up to his parents, Tom and Mary Beth, or his older sisters, Mackenzie and Madison, or his girlfriend "as much as I should've."
"But Karl knew what I was going through," said Henry. "He was really a lifeline for me. So, I'm thankful for those experiences now, reflecting back on it, because it forced me for the rest of that summer and ever since that moment to light a fire under myself to want to learn, to work hard and to grow so you never have to experience that time. I got to pitch again that summer and was good, but not great.
"I know there's more adversity in the future, but that really hardened and matured me. I couldn't be more thankful for the experience now. I learned how important it was to believe in yourself, and whether you throw 98 mph or 88 mph, if you throw an 88-mph fastball like it's 98, it'll play much better if you believe in it. You have to have full faith in yourself whether times are hard or times are good."
Kauffmann
That "adversity" revisited him this year, when he went from being 6-1 with a 0.76 ERA and filling the bleachers with pro scouts every time he pitched to giving up six or seven earned runs in three of his next six starts. His earned-run average rose to 3.69. But the four outings beginning with Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament have all been quality starts.
Henry got his changeup working effectively, making him a harder-to-anticipate pitcher with that to go with his highly-effective low 90s fastball and slider. Pitching coach Chris Fetter helped him rediscover his groove.
"Coach was always a shoulder to lean on," said Henry. "His guidance is always there, but you have to have the motivation to push through adversity. I'm not an outlier there. All 35 guys on the team have faced adversity this year.
"Life's all about getting knocked down and getting back up one more time."
So, the next time you see Henry hug Fettter or Kauffmann after a game, you will know why they're holding on so tightly.
Kauffmann also had a strong influence on Henry coming to Ann Arbor in the first place.
"I committed for the same reasons that Karl committed," said Henry. "I was following in Karl's footsteps because I'd grown up a Michigan fan. It was my dream school, and then Karl committed even a year before I did. He was a huge recruit, and to see him go to Michigan, it was like, 'OK, Michigan baseball is going to be legit.' I want to be a part of that, and wanted to show that northern players can stick with those from the south.
"And I wanted to wear the eight letters on my chest, and the Block M on my hat. I wanted to see where we could take it from there because the athletic department is unmatched throughout the country. And the academics are the best (he's majoring in economics), and so there wasn't a better fit for me or a better opportunity on the horizon."
He took a good look at Duke, but always knew Michigan would be his choice. He liked the idea of taking the Wolverines somewhere special with Kauffmann as well as a longtime teammate and an adversary from Portage.
Portage Northern teammate Benjamin Keizer, who set the single-season pitching appearance record with 33 this year and got the save in Henry's Super Regional-clinching win at UCLA, and former rival Jeff Criswell (Portage Central), who is 7-1 with a 2.68 ERA but has been a lights-out stopper in the CWS, have been in his life for so long.
"I played with Keizer since I was 7," said Henry. "Criswell and I weren't super close in high school, but we always had that connection, whether we were banging under the rim for rebounds in basketball or playing baseball against each other because we knew we were going to Michigan together. So, it's been really cool to get to know him these two years. He's the most talented pitcher I've been around, and it's cool to see his hunger for getting better, always staying after to ask Coach Fetter questions or texting him a lot. We've shared a lot of laughs together because we're both pretty goofy and have gotten pretty close.
"I'll never forget watching Keizer pitch at UCLA because, even when we were 9, playing travel ball for the West Portage Wizards, in between innings he would pace and talk to himself in the dugout. He's the most intense competitor I've ever been around and the hardest worker I've ever been around. So, he's an inspiration. I've always looked up to him and always will because he has so many traits I try to emulate.
"But I loved to watch him grow. He missed his senior year in high school after tearing his labrum, came in his freshman year and didn't pitch while rehabbing. He didn't really pitch in any big role as a sophomore or junior. Then to see it pay off in such dividends this year -- the hair on my arm stands up just talking about it. We're definitely not here without him and I'm so proud. And in between innings at UCLA was the first time I'd ever seen him not pacing and talking to himself. He was sitting on the bench with a towel, smiling and having normal conversations. He was in control of his mind and it came together."
Criswell (left) and Henry (USATSI photo)
Henry, Keizer and senior first baseman and CWS hitting star Jimmy Kerr were elected tri-captains for this team.
"It's one of the coolest honors I've received," said Henry. "These 35 guys are my brothers, and they will be for life with all the reunions that will come. I truly see them as family, and so for them to bestow that honor on the three of us, I can't thank them enough. It's all about us, and that's why we're special. It's 35 guys, all for one. We've had success because everyone's playing for the right reasons and doing it for each other.
"It's why I love the guys on this team, and always will."
Riding Elephants in India, and Discovering One Who Could Play Catch
His family is here to experience all of this with him, and they're all sure to remember it as long or perhaps longer than the family elephant rides on a trip to India. They went to New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur during Tommy's junior year in high school, when they convinced their parents to take them all along on a business trip there for Dad's job in sales as well as Madison's nursing externship there.
The Henrys toured the Taj Mahal as well as experiencing the poverty and homelessness in the country.
"But riding elephants was one of the things we did throughout the trip," said Tommy. "There were like 30 elephants they took out and you ride in a seat atop them. They're too big to straddle (laughter). So, we rode up this path into this mountain and it was amazing how smart, gentle and intelligent they were.
"My sisters rode together and my parents rode together, and I rode with a guide. He said, 'Hey, give me your shoe.' I said, 'What do you want my shoe for?' He said, 'Just give me your shoe.' So, I gave it to him and he told the elephant, 'Chelsea, catch!' Then he throws my shoe to the elephant and before it hits the ground you see this trunk reach out and snag it. I thought, 'OK the elephant has my shoe.' But all of a sudden, 'Boom!' The elephant tosses it back right into my lap.
"I'm like, 'We're doing that again.' We did it probably six times and I was loving it."
So, Chelsea would make a good outfielder?
"Yeah," Henry said with a smile. "Willie Mays. He made incredible catches and even better throws -- blind throws."
Golfing is a much more regular sort of diversion for Henry, who wears a Titleist cap when not donning a baseball cap.
"I love golf," said Henry, who also swings clubs lefty. "If I'm not playing baseball, I'm on the course. There are similar mental challenges in golf that compare to baseball and life. Sometimes you do everything right and it doesn't go your way, and you just have to learn to shut it off.
"Golf clears my mind. It's an escape. But it also is something I really enjoy. My favorite course is LochenHeath (Golf Club on Grand Traverse Bay), a links-style course. Playing golf in the summer in northern Michigan, I'll advocate for that any day. A great golf course up there, great weather, is just the perfect scenario in my head."
But elephants and golf are for another day.
"I'm just excited to play one more baseball game with these guys," Henry said. "That's all we're focused on right now, just one more baseball game."
