This Ain't Brain Surgery

by Dierker, Larry

• ISBN13: 9780803266513
• ISBN10: 0803266510
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-14
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

Plenty of people were surprised when Larry Dierker was named the manager of the Houston Astros at the end of the 1996 season, but perhaps no one was more surprised than Larry Dierker. Despite his status as a fourteen-year ace starter in the big leagues (thirteen of them with Houston), two-time All-Star, and well-regarded longtime TV colorman for the Astros, Dierker's hiring refuted conventional wisdom and deeply confounded most major league observers. For one thing, Larry had no managerial experience at any level of the game before taking over the 'Stros; for another, former pitchers rarely become managers (especially former pitchers with a taste for Hawaiian shirts and a talent for amateur songwriting); and, well, managers are supposed to become broadcasters, not the other way around! But, in his five years at the controls, Dierker guided the Astros to four National League Central division crowns and four playoff appearances, and was named the National League Manager of the Year in 1998. Employing on-the-field strategies at once cerebral and daring, adroitly handling every sort of distraction and disaster that can befall a team -- including suffering a nearly catastrophic seizure during a game -- he excelled like no other manager in Astros history, until resigning at the end of the 2001 season.

Author Biography

Larry Dierker has spent nearly his entire adult life with the Houston Astros in one capacity or another. He made his major league debut on his eighteenth birthday in 1964, striking out Willie Mays in his first inning of work, and is still the franchise leader in starts, complete games, innings pitched, and shutouts. From 1979 until his appointment as manager, Dierker was the club's primary color analyst on radio and television, and for several years wrote a column that appeared in the Houston Chronicle. As manager of the Astros he led Houston to four division titles in five seasons. An avid connoisseur of cigars and Hawaiian shirtwear, he lives in Houston with his wife, Judy

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(230)
1 Spring Training	15	(36)
2 Opening Day	51	(24)
3 Pitching	75	(32)
4 Managing	107	(36)
5 Broadcasting	143	(20)
6 Umpires	163	(24)
7 Scouts	187	(18)
8 Farm System	205	(14)
9 Trades	219	(12)
10 Cheating	231	(12)
11 La Vida	243	(24)
12 The Big Seize	267	(6)
Epilogue: Out of It	273