Larry Dierker Houston Chapter meeting recap – 8/18/2026
On Monday, August 18, 2026, SABR’s Larry Dierker Houston Chapter met for its monthly meeting at the Spaghetti Western restaurant in Houston, Texas.
Chapter President Joe Thompson was the presiding officer. There were 40 members and guests in person at the restaurant and another 9 members in attendance via Zoom. Click here to watch a video replay on YouTube.
Joe started the meeting by introducing some of our notable guests:
- Astros Hall of Fame member Larry Dierker and his wife Linda
- Jason Bristol, KHOU sportscaster
- Bill Brown, Astros HOF member
- Joe Acosta, Astros HOF selection committee
- Mike Capps, Rogers Hornsby Chapter member and veteran minor league and college baseball radio broadcaster
Chapter member John Lloyd introduced new member Rod Conerly.
The main theme was the celebration of the chapter’s namesake – Larry Dierker – and the 50th anniversary of his no-hitter versus the Montreal Expos. In honor of Larry’s fondness for wearing Hawaiian shirts, nearly half the audience was appropriately attired in one.
Joe thanked Bill Brown for his presentation in June and the discussion of his book about Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine of the 1970s.
Joe narrated a PowerPoint he prepared with the highlights of SABR 54, the annual convention held in Cleveland during July. There were eight Houston chapter members in attendance: Joe, Bob Dorrill, Herb Whalley, Theo Au-Yeung, Vince and Lena Trovato, Wes Pierce and William Jenkins.
Theo, a graduate student at Rice University, made a poster presentation.
Bob said the weather in Cleveland was wonderful. He also enjoyed that the convention was “all about baseball” from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. He really enjoyed the session with former Cleveland Indians players and said they still want to be called Indians.
William enjoyed the camaraderie and the opportunity to play catch with some guys who are vintage baseball players on the tour of League Park.
Herb provided a recap of what was included in the conference: Panels, Presentations, Committee Meetings, Poster Sessions. He really enjoyed the committee meeting that covered Official Scoring.
Joe said the bus tour to the Baseball History Museum was wonderful. He enjoyed meeting vintage ball players from the Whiskey Island Shamrocks. A wonderful bonus to the Convention was a session by David Ward who was the writer and director of the movie Major League. The attendees got to see the R-rated version which was a real hoot. Joe also enjoyed the panel of 1990s Cleveland Indians players. The group attended a Guardians game. There were lots of cool statues near the ballpark. Joe and Herb attended a minor league game on Sunday.
Joe said our Chapter was recognized for the third year in a row as one of SABR’s Outstanding Chapters.
Lastly, Joe said due to a possible MLB work stoppage in 2027, SABR chose Birmingham, Alabama as the location of the SABR 55th Annual Convention. It will be August 4-8, 2027. Birmingham is home to Rickwood Field, the oldest professional baseballpark in the United States, along with the Negro Southern League Museum and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Tour.
The meeting then progressed to the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Larry Dierker’s no-hitter versus the Montreal Expos. It occurred on July 9, 1976. Joe noted that this was Larry’s only no-hitter although he had come close before. It was also the first no-hitter in the Astrodome since 1967.
Chris Chesnutt delighted the audience by playing the radio broadcast of the 9th inning (by Gene Elston and Loel Passe). Larry really mowed down the heart of the Expos batting order! As a bonus we saw the video of the last out made by Pete Mackanin (a weak ground ball to first baseman Bob Watson). Chris also played an interview of Larry that he provided to a reporter about his feat a few years ago.
Joe then introduced our friend Larry Dierker who we affectionately call “Mr. Astros.” In reminiscing about the game for us, Larry mentioned the following:
- One of the photos on the placard shows him jumping off the mound, looking as if a hard ground ball had gone through his legs. He received the photo from a city councilman who said that baseball and politics had an obvious similarity – “When they go for your balls, you gotta JUMP!”
- He said it had been quite a while since he had a clean first inning. When he retired the Expos 1-2-3 in the first, he thought tonight could be the night for throwing a no-hitter.
- At age 30 he realized he couldn’t out-throw the young guys on the team. He had to pitch with savvy – rely on changes in location and velocity to keep the batters off balance. That is how he pitched for the first seven innings of this particular game. For the 8th and 9th innings, adrenalin kicked in and he was able to overpower the Expos batters. He also wanted to avoid giving up a cheap infield hit on an off-speed pitch. That had bedeviled him in past attempts at no-hitters.
- In 1976 the Astros had a promotion for free beer at certain times in a game. This happened around the 7th inning and lots of fans left their seats to get their “Foamer.” Many of them missed a couple of his best innings and almost the exciting final outs in the 9th.
- Larry’s catcher for this game was Ed Herrmann. Larry then demonstrated how he would change signs by brushing his uniform with his glove (up to “add” and down to “subtract” from the pitch called by the catcher). He pretty much called his own game at this stage in his career.
- After 108 pitches, Larry’s no-hitter was secured the on-field celebration with his Astros teammates ensued. Larry said that the many interviews with radio and TV reporters took so much time that he missed going out with teammates for a celebratory beer. He ended up enjoying some champagne with his wife at home.
After Larry completed his review of the game, the floor was opened to questions.
Mike Capps said he was a rookie reporter in 1976 and arrived after Larry had granted multiple interviews. He asked Larry to provide yet another, but Larry was ready to head to the clubhouse. Mike fondly remembers Larry telling him, “who the hell are you?”
Larry was asked what manager Bill Virdon’s post-game comments to him were. Just “Nice game,” which Larry said was a great example of Virdon’s even-keeled personality.
After reviewing the box score, which was provided to all attendees, it was noticed that Larry “carried the team.” In the top of the 2nd inning, he caught a line drive and then doubled off the runner at second base. In the bottom of that inning, Larry earned an RBI with a sacrifice fly to the outfield.
Patrick Petty showed the audience a placard of “50 Facts about Larry’s No-Hitter 50 Years Ago.” It contains lots of interesting tidbits.
Mike McCroskey presented Larry with a custom-made commemorative plaque which Larry greatly appreciated.
At the conclusion, Larry received a very warm and heartfelt round of applause from all the attendees.
We then moved on to the monthly baseball trivia contest. Ted Meyer had prepared 10 very interesting questions with a total of 30 points. Patrick Petty won with 20 points. John Lloyd and Samual (last name?) tied for second and third with 19 points.
Bill Brown and Linda Dierker announced that an unofficial Houston Astros fans cruise is being organized. It will be on Carnival Cruise Line from April 11-17, 2027 out of Miami. They can provide additional information for interested parties.
Joe Thompson concluded this very outstanding chapter meeting by thanking all attendees for their participation. The next meeting is September 21.