Houston Sports - Larry Dierker

Larry Dierker

Born: September 22, 1946

Sport: Baseball (139-123, 3.31 ERA as a pitcher; 435-348, 4 NL Central titles as a manager)

Baseball season kicked off this week, and like most Houston sports fans I love my local team.  The Houston Astros have been the most consistently great team in the area in recent years, although there have been significant strides made by the football and basketball squads of late.  Houston has certainly been able to claim a significant number of baseball stars, both those that grew up around town as well as many stars that have played here and have been adopted into our city's family.  Larry Dierker may be the man who epitomizes the organization like no other.  So this week, in honor of Opening Day 2025, let's learn more about a man who has spent his entire career (and beyond) representing our city.

Houston's first two major league fields: Colts Stadium and the Astrodome

Born in Hollywood, CA, young Larry was like many boys who grew up playing the sport that had become known as America's national pastime.  While pitching for his high school team he unknowingly had the opportunity to throw for a scout who would eventually become a LA Dodgers legend - Tommy Lasorda.  Although the young pitcher had a losing record for a bad team, he received a positive scouting report for his mechanics and delivery.  In 1963, while still just 17 years old, Larry Dierker became the focus of a bidding war by various major league teams, and the newly-formed Houston Colt .45s won his services by signing the young man for $55,000.  Within a year he made his major league debut on his 18th birthday, which seems like quite a gift to unwrap, and in his first inning he struck out none other than future Hall of Famer Willie Mays.  Since then, there has never been a younger player to make his major league debut.  Dierker eventually spent 13 seasons with Houston, which later became known as the Astros, becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to win 20 games in a season, and earning a pair of All-Star appearances.  Despite throwing a no-hitter in 1976, the Astros traded him away to the St. Louis Cardinals where he played one final season before retiring at the age of 31.  Dierker still holds the Astros club records for games started, innings pitched, complete games, and shutouts.

A year after hanging up his glove for the last time, Larry Dierker was back in Houston and once again part of the Astros family.  This time, however, he acted as a TV and radio announcer.  For the 18 seasons from 1979-1996 he was the color commentator, using his experience and understanding of the game to share his love of the game with fans, while also becoming known for his flamboyant Hawaiian shirts.  As Dierker famously believed, nobody who wore a Hawaiian shirt was ever seen having a bad time.  He was there for the first time the Astros won their division and tasted the postseason, but the team from Houston never seemed to be able to put together a run once the playoffs arrived.  In 1980 they fell to the Phillies, in 1981 they lost a play-in game to the Dodgers, and in 1986 it was the eventual World Series winning Mets that took them down.  By the mid-90s the Astros, who were then owned by Drayton McLane, hadn't made it past the regular season in several years and the players had stopped responding well to a hard-nosed manager named Terry Collins.  Seeking an unconventional answer, McLane tapped the colorful broadcast analyst to step into the clubhouse as the new Astros manager for the start to the 1997 season.

Plenty of baseball minds doubted that Larry Dierker would succeed in his new role, but he quickly won over the best players in the clubhouse and surrounded himself by other experienced baseball minds.  The result was surprising, as Houston racked up a record of 84-78 to win their division and made the playoffs for the first time in over a decade.  Despite losing a tight first-round series to the Braves, Dierker returned the following year to lead a resurgent Astros team to a club-record 102-60 mark, after which he won NL Manager of the Year honors and was named to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.  In all, he was the manager for five seasons and made the playoffs in all but one, but the team's inability to advance beyond the first round eventually doomed his managerial career and he resigned under pressure from ownership after being eliminated from contention in 2001.  The following year the Astros retired his number, and during the 2004-2005 seasons he returned briefly to the booth as an announcer.  When the team created a Houston Astros Hall of Fame in 2019, Larry Dierker was honored as a member of the inaugural class of inductees.  After spending 38 years with the team in various roles Dierker is still a fan favorite and maintains his relationship with the club, and was most recently seen throwing out the first pitch at the Opening Day game this season against the Mets.  And yes, beneath his Astros jersey was the trademark Hawaiian shirt for the man who never seems to have a bad day.

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