TTM Stats
- Sent: 3/24/2021 | Received: 4/22/2021 | 28 Days
- ’01 Topps, ’02 Topps (2)
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Larry Dierker is a former right-handed starting pitcher and manager in the major leagues. He played from 1964 to 1977 with the Houston Colt .45sAstros and St. Louis Cardinals. He was later the manager of the Astros from 1997 to 2001.
Dierker is a native of California. The Astros signed him as an amateur free agent before the 1964 season. He made his major league debut on his 18th birthday, September 22, 1964 and struck out Willie Mays in the first inning. Despite that great start, the rest of that day didn’t go as well and he would end up pitching three games that first season with an 0-1 record and 2.00 ERA.
The next year he was a full on major leaguer, but it was 1969 when he broke out. That year he started a run of four consecutive years of a winning record and no less than 12 wins. Two out of four of those years he was an All-Star and in 1969 he had a career high 20-win season with a 20-13 record and 2.33 ERA. That was the first 20-game winning season for the Astros in their history. He would pick up injuries in 1972 that cost him some time but he would be a big part of their rotation through 1976.
Larry became the Astros manager in 1997 and was named NL Manager of the Year in 1998 when he led them to a 102-win season. The team won the NL Central in four out of the five years that he managed the team. Unfortunately though they could win in the playoffs. Despite a 435-348 record in the regular season, the Astros were just 2-12 in the playoffs with him at the Helm. Three of those loses came in NLDS Series with the Braves.
The Score on Larry Dierker – 7.0
While there’s a lot of guys for different team that you could call “Mr. <insert team name here>”, I think Larry is one of those guys you could call Mr. Astro. Just given that he spent so long with them playing and managing and for the place he played in their history. That’s part of why they would retire his number. So it’s nice to get returns from guys like that in the uniform on those teams.
Thanks Mr. Dierker! I’m giving this return a 7.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.