American baseball player and manager
Baseball player
Thomas James Lawless (born December 19, 1956) is an American former Major League Baseball player who played between 1982 and 1990, appearing with the Cincinnati Reds, Montreal Expos, St. Louis Cardinals, and Toronto Blue Jays.
He was the interim manager of the Houston Astros in 2014.
Career
Lawless grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, attending Strong Vincent High School and Penn State Behrend, where he played baseball from 1975 to 1978.[1]
Lawless became famous in 1984 when he became the only player ever traded for Pete Rose.
Lawless, who only hit two regular-season home runs in his career, is also remembered for his dramatic go-ahead home run in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series (he had hit .080 in 25 at-bats during the regular season.) Lawless later expressed shock that he had managed to hit a home run. "When it went over the wall, I thought, 'Holy cow, it went out.' I went blank. I don't remember flipping the bat."[2]
On May 10, 1989, while with the Toronto Blue Jays, Lawless' ninth-inning single broke up a no-hit bid by Mark Langston of the Seattle Mariners.[3]
A fast and highly skilled baserunner, Lawless struggled to hit major league pitching and retired in 1990. He entered the coaching ranks and has become a successful minor league manager. In 2007, he served as a coach for the China national baseball team during its participation in Major League Baseball's Instructional League program and in the Arizona Fall League. He managed the Lexington Legends, the Class A affiliate of the Houston Astros, for the 2009 season. On November 16, 2009, Lawless was named the new manager for the Lancaster JetHawks, the Class A Advanced affiliate of the Houston Astros, for the 2010 season. In 2011, Lawless was managing the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Texas League. On September 1, 2014, after the Astros fired Bo Porter, Lawless was hired as the interim manager.[4] As interim manager with Houston, he had a record of 11 wins and 13 losses.
