The Pecan Park Eagle

Larry Dierker’s 18th Birthday Party
September 22, 1964
~How many people in the world ever got to celebrate their 18th birthday by striking out Willie Mays in a big league game before they blew out the candles on their cake? ~

The Pecan Park Eagle apologizes to our friend and SABR colleague Larry Dierker for the absence of a kinder, more local source we surely would have found at the downtown Houston library, but on a late Saturday night column writing streak, we had to settle for the golden gate grist that flavors the tone of this writer’s reporting for the Oakland Tribune.

This newspaper account was the most detailed game report we could find through our digital newspaper resources that are available to us through our Newspaper Archive subscription service. The Tribune’s game story headlines bypass the storyline of Larry Dierker’s first start of his MLB career on his 18th birthday at old Colt Stadium on September 22, 1964. The header goes straight to the blaring shout that Juan Marichal will be going for his 20th win of the season in today’s game against World Series “Perfect Game” hero, also a former Giant and now an aging, but new starter for the Houston Colt .45s.

As all of who have followed his career from his incredible start on his 18th birthday to this very moment already know, Larry Dierker’s accomplishments and contributions to baseball are among the greatest in Houston MLB history – and far too numerous to bear repeating this morning in a brief first game focus.

Safe to say, Dierker was far more than good enough to have earned that retired #49 jersey number that will continue to hang forever in whatever venue survives as the future home of the Houston Astros. No one else has contributed so broadly to Houston baseball as “Dierk” has done either. As a player, columnist, essayist, book author, playwright, broadcaster, historian, community volunteer, Astros club manager and SABR Chapter namesake – nobody else in Houston baseball comes to mind who has done it better in so many important different ways.

Thanks for all you’ve done, Larry! You are very much loved, admired, and appreciated by all of us deep-orange and dark blue Houston baseball fans.

A lot of us too were breaking into our new fields of endeavor around the same time that Larry Dierker was making his 18th birthday MLB debut back in 1964. Those of us who started our careers  out of the bright public limelight that quickly found Larry in baseball had a big advantage on the “Kid from LA”. True, we also had to start our new life jobs by acting as though we already knew what we were doing before we actually did, but here’s where any similarity ends. Nobody put our daily learning curve results in a box score – and then wrote a daily public news story on how things were going for us on the job.

People like Dierker – and all other truly successful athletes – have to have owned the hides of a buffalo and the focus of an eagle to get through that crunch of media attention and still be able to play the game unfettered, if that’s even possible.-  Now it’s even worse. Today it’s 24/7 media attention. How crazy is that?

At any rate, here’s that Oakland sportswriter’s story of Larry Dierker’s first game, warts and all. The box score comes to us courtesy of that wonderful source we know as Baseball Almanac.com.

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JUAN SEEKS NO. 20 AGAINST DON LARSEN

By Emmons Byrne (Oakland Tribune, September 23, 1964, Pages 39 and 41)

Over time, Larry became famous in Houston for his Hawaiian shirts and his cool “hang loose” persona.

In contrast to Wednesday (It actually was Tuesday) when they started 18-year-old Larry Dierker, the Colt .45s will send Don Larsen to the post tonight against the Giants’ Juan Marichal.

Larsen’s chief claim to fame is the no-hitter he pitched in the 1956 World Series but he is also well known to Candlestick fans as a relief man the last two seasons.

The Giants sold him to Houston on May 20 and at the age of 35 he has reblossomed as a starting pitcher.  In seven starts since he moved into (the) rotation Aug. 18 he has an earned run average of 1.71.

So it would appear that Marichal will have to work for his 20th victory.

It was amateur night last evening and the 5,609 fans who turned out to see Dierker make his debut after a brief schooling in the Florida Instructional League left early.

It was just as well for the lack luster contest dragged far on into the hot and humid night before (Giants pitcher) Dick Estelle was credited with his first big league win by a score of 7-1.

Dierker, a bonus baby from Los Angeles, hit the backstop with his first pitch to Harvey Kuenn and eventually walked him.

Hal Lanier followed with a single but the 6’4″ right-hander kept on firing. Mateo Alou fouled to the catcher and Jim Hart and Willie Mays struck out.

Orlando Cepeda greeted the Kid with his 31st homer of the year, a blast into the left field seats, to open the second round.

Tom Haller and Jim Davenport singled and both advanced on a wild pitch. Haller came home on Kuenn’s sacrifice fly to right and Davenport also scored when Rusty Staub’s throw went through catcher Jerry Grote.

In his inexperience, Dierker failed to back up the play and he was well on his way to an early shower in the next inning.

He tried to pick Mays off first, but the throw was wide and Willie didn’t stop running until he reached third. He then scored on a wild pitch and Larry Yellen, another rookie just recalled from Oklahoma City, relieved.

Larry sailed a few balls over the batters’ heads, but rarely by accident, and he also has been known by his wry and playful sense of humor to float a few story punchlines over his listeners’ heads.

(The balance of the article is largely about the Giants’ faint pennant hopes, but the writer does note that Harvey Kuenn picked up his 2,000th hit on a 9th inning single, further noting that the ball then was retrieved by umpire Jocko Conlon for Kuenn’s souvenir case. The Giants went on to win the game, 7-1, but let’s allow writer Emmons Byrne to finish his game account.)

The lone Colt run came in the fourth on Grote’s triple against the center field fence.  Mays’ throw was up the line and Grote kept on running to score as Willie was charged with an error.

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Baseball Almanac Box ScoresSan 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 |