The Pecan Park Eagle

Happy 18th Birthday, anyway, Larry! – After his loss on his 18th birthday debut, the Houston Colts helped Larry Dierker celebrate the very special occasion with candles and cake in the clubhouse.

Not many pitchers get to celebrate their 18th birthdays by making their first MLB mound appearances as a starter, but that’s exactly what happened to Larry Dierker of the then called Houston Colt .45s at Colt Stadium in Houston on September 22, 1964. Dierker’s opponents that day were the San Francisco Giants.

The 6’4″ rangy and hard-throwing right-hander with the baby face of a kid was eager to go in his debut, but he ran into trouble early. After striking out Willie Mays and two others, walking three, and surrendering four runs (two earned) in two and two-third inning of work, Dierker was gone and on his way to a first MLB loss to the Giants by 7-1. Orlando Cepeda also led off the top of the 2nd inning by smashing the first major league home run ever hit off Larry Dierker.

In a 14-year MLB career (1964-1977), all but the last were spent with Houston. His 1977 season with the Cardinals was affected by an arm injury that would end his playing career upon the completion of that season. Dierker left the playing part of the game with a career record of 139 wins, 123 loses, and a 3.31ERA, a 20-win season in 1969 and one career no-hitter against the Expos in 1976.

Larry Dierker  never really eft baseball or the Houston Astros after retiring as a player in 1977. He rejoined the Astros in 1978 as radio broadcast analyst for the next 18 years, a time in which he also finished his degree at the University f Houston and began to establish a name for himself as a baseball historian and writer for a Houston newspaper.

Surprise! Larry Dierker was hired to take over as manager of the Astros from 1997 through 2001, becoming the only manager in Astros history to win four division titles or playoff trips in five seasons. 2000 was the only the season in which Dierker failed to lead the club to either a division title or wild card spot in the playoffs.

After Dierker stepped down in a cloud of mild and quickly hushed acrimony after the 2001 season, he stayed with the club as a sporadic broadcaster and a still highly valued front office executive/adviser.  He’s also used the time to write two entertaining and intelligent baseball books and lent his time and name to our local Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR.

Larry and wife Judy are both quite dedicated to local programs that encourage literacy and reading, and I believe they are both active in supporting causes which support research into the cause and treatment of injuries from brain seizure. Larry Dierker himself recovered from a brain seizure that occurred during a Sunday game at the Astrodome in 1999.

In 2005, Larry Dierker and I drove down to Pearland so he could meet 100 year old Lee Cunningham, who was then recognized as the world’s oldest living former major leaguer.

Larry Dierker is a very good man. We Houstonians are proud to claim him as one of our own.

Here’s the box score from Larry Dierker’s first MLB game:

Baseball Almanac Box Scores: San Francisco Giants 7 –  Houston Colt .45s 1
Game played on Tuesday, September 22, 1964 at Colt Stadium
San Francisco Giants ab   r   h rbi Kuenn lf 4 0 3 1 Lanier 2b 6 1 2 0 Alou rf 5 1 2 0 Hart 3b 4 1 1 0   Pagan ss 0 0 0 0 Mays cf 4 1 1 1 Cepeda 1b 4 1 2 3 Haller c 4 1 2 0 Davenport ss,3b 5 1 1 0 Estelle p 4 0 0 0   Murakami p 0 0 0 0 Totals 40 7 14 5	Houston Colt .45s ab   r   h rbi Kasko ss,3b 5 0 2 0 Morgan 2b 1 0 0 0 Aspromonte 3b 4 0 3 0   Jackson pr,ss 1 0 0 0 Bond 1b 5 0 0 0 Wynn cf 3 0 0 0 Staub rf 4 0 0 0 Beauchamp lf 4 0 0 0 Grote c 3 1 1 0   Bateman c 1 0 0 0 Dierker p 1 0 0 0   Yellen p 0 0 0 0   Giusti p 2 0 1 0   Gaines ph 1 0 0 0   Jones p 0 0 0 0 Totals 35 1 7 0
San Francisco 0 3 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 – 7 14 2 Houston 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 7 3   San Francisco Giants IP H R ER BB SO Estelle  W (1-1) 8.0 7 1 1 6 4   Murakami  SV (1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 9.0 7 1 1 6 4   Houston Colt .45s IP H R ER BB SO Dierker  L (0-1) 2.2 5 4 2 3 3   Yellen 1.0 2 3 3 2 0   Giusti 4.1 5 0 0 0 3   Jones 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 Totals 9.0 14 7 5 5 8 E–Pagan (20), Mays (5), Kasko (14), Bond (12), Wynn (7).  3B–Houston Grote (3,off Estelle).  HR–San Francisco Cepeda (31,2nd inning off Dierker 0 on, 0 out).  SH–Estelle (1,off Jones).  SF–Kuenn (2,off Dierker).  Team LOB–13.  Team–13.  WP–Dierker 2 (2).  U-HP–Lee Weyer, 1B–Jocko Conlan, 2B–Doug Harvey, 3B–Tony Venzon.  T–3:02.  A–5,608.
Game played on Tuesday, September 22, 1964 at Colt Stadium
Baseball Almanac Box Score |

Tags: Larry Dierker's 1st game.

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