Astros Ace

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

Right-hander Larry Dierker was the first Houston Astros pitcher to win 20 games in a season and retired after 13 seasons in Houston with the most wins in the history of the franchise. (He remains second all-time in Houston victories to Joe Niekro).

Larry Dierker

Dierker was signed by Houston in 1964 while he was still 17 years old, and he debuted with the big league team at the end of the 1964 season. He pitched in only 9 games in the minor leagues.

Dierker was a starter from the beginning of his major league career. He was 7-8 with a 3.50 ERA in 1965 and 10-8 with a 3.18 ERA in 1966. Injuries limited him to 6-5 in 1967, but he was 12-15 with a 3.31 ERA in 1968 and was 20-13 with a 2.33 ERA in 1969. His 20 complete games and 305.1 innings pitched are still franchise records. At the close of the 1960s, the 22-year-old Dierker already had accumulated 55 major league victories.

From 1970 through 1976, Dierker was 82-67 with a 3.49 ERA. He averaged 188 inning pitched per season, an average slightly skewed down by the mere 27 innings Dierker pitched in 1973. He was the Astros’ workhorse and the team’s ace for more than a decade.

In November of 1976, Dierker was traded with Jerry DaVanon to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Detherage and Joe Ferguson. He appeared in only 11 games for the Cardinals in 1977, going 2-6 with a 4.58 ERA. The Cardinals released him after the season, and he retired as a player, though he returned to Houston 20 years later for a highly successful 5-season tour as the team’s manager.

Dierker finished with a career record of 139-123, all but 2 of those victories coming with Houston. His career earned run average was 3.31. He pitched 2,333.2 innings including 106 complete games and 25 shutouts. Dierker was a member of the National League All-Star team in 1969 and 1971.