Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recap – 6/16/2025
On June 16, 2025, twenty-three members and friends of the Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston gathered on Zoom for the monthly chapter meeting. Click here to watch the YouTube video recording.
After a few brief announcements regarding upcoming chapter events, I turned the meeting over to our special guest, Andy Greenstone. I have talked to Mike Acosta about Andy’s collection, and that conversation led me to believe that in order for our chapter members to get the full effect of the collection, a Zoom-only meeting would be a better choice than our normal in-person/Zoom meeting. Mike said to me that Andy’s collection is museum-worthy. I agree with Mike, especially after now seeing his collection.
Andy treated all those in attendance to an outstanding tour of his Astrodome and Houston baseball collection. Andy Greenstone is a lifelong Houston Astros fan whose love for the team began during childhood trips to games at the Astrodome. His passion for baseball first took shape through collecting cards as a kid, but it wasn’t until he began decorating his son’s room with baseball memorabilia that his collecting truly took off. By a fortunate twist of fate, Andy acquired the largest surviving piece of the original Home Run Spectacular scoreboard from the Astrodome—a turning point that transformed a casual hobby into one of the most extensive private collections of Houston baseball memorabilia. His collection spans the full history of Houston baseball, from the Buffs era to the modern-day Astros.
Andy acquired the largest surviving piece of the original Home Run Spectacular scoreboard from the Astrodome. Andy showed us a piece that he had acquired a little later, the controller for the Home Run Spectacular. He told the group about some of the buttons on the scoreboard. One of the buttons was the “Home Run” button, which set off the spectacular. Other buttons were the “Dome Up” and “Dome Down,” and a button Andy said that he was told was never used, the “Visitors Home Run” button.
There were some other pieces to his collection that spoke directly to me. Many of you know my Dad worked at the Astrodome. He worked at the gates where people came in to pay to park. Every day he checked in and out of work, I remember sitting in the car and watching him go down the tunnel entrance. There were many days and nights during my childhood and teenage years that my Mom, little brother, and I dropped him off and picked him up from work. One of the pieces Andy had was a sign that said “Astrodome Employee Entrance.” When I saw this as part of Andy’s collection, I wondered if this sign was one that my Dad saw when entering the Dome to check in and out for work.
Andy showed us a lot of other interesting pieces. He showed us a “Parking Lot Attendant” uniform and the grounds crew’s helmet. He said that the uniform was encased in Sklylight from the Dome. He also showed us some of his other pieces from Astros history, including ones from the 2017 and 2022 World Series championship seasons and from Buff Stadium. I thank Andy for sharing his collection with us. Like I said, it would not be right of me to try and recall all the pieces Andy showed us. Again, I highly recommend all of you watch the meeting video (https://youtu.be/mqgBNFsSSNA)
In closing, I wanted to remind all of you of our summer schedule. There will not be a chapter meeting in July. Our next chapter meeting will be on Monday, August 18. Bill Brown will be our special guest. He will give us a presentation on his new book, Wartime Athletes: Stories of Sports Stars Who Joined the U.S. Team. The book was released on May 9, 2025, and I will have a copy for the trivia contest winner that night. I am certain Brownie will even sign it for you! Also, in keeping up with our Astrodome birthday celebration, Brownie and Larry Dierker will share an Astrodome memory. Vince Trovato was the trivia contest winner in May and will give the trivia contest at the meeting in August.
The Summer 2025 chapter newsletter will be out in early August. Newsletter Editors Tony Cavender and Scott McCay are looking for articles for the upcoming newsletter. If you have an Astrodome memory you would like to share, a Houston baseball story, or something else baseball-related you would like to write about, please send your article to Tony or Scott by mid-July. Articles need only be a few hundred words and can be about anything. My message for the Summer newsletter will be about my first ever trip to the College World Series in Omaha last week.
I hope all of you have a great baseball summer. I look forward to seeing you at the next chapter meeting on Monday, August 18, at the Spaghetti Western on Shepherd Drive or on Zoom if you cannot make it to the restaurant. I also look forward to seeing many of you this week at SABR 53.
— Joseph Thompson