Larry Dierker Chapter meeting recap – 10/23/2025
On a very special Thursday night edition of the Houston SABR Larry Dierker chapter meeting, twenty-nine (29) people gathered together at the Spaghetti Western Italian Restaurant on Shepherd Drive in Houston and on Zoom to talk about the great game of baseball on October 23, 2025.
The night was full of lively conversation on why the Astros did not make the playoffs for the first time since 2016, the upcoming World Series matchup between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers, a Houston Babies vintage baseball announcement, a great presentation about Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, and the Astros vs. Pirates home opener that year, and several other interesting topics.
Longtime chapter member Matthew Rejmaniak gave a great presentation about the Astros’ April 10, 1968 home opener held against the Pittsburgh Pirates at the Astrodome. Why this game is important in Astros and Astrodome history is the reason why MLB decided to delay the opening of the 1968 regular season for the entire season. The delay for the league was in reaction to the tragic assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. which occurred in Memphis on April 4, 1968. The original opening day of April 8 was postponed, and all 20 teams began their season on April 10 as a result of the national mourning and the funeral on April 9.
Matthew also spoke on Larry Dierker and Bob Aspromonte’s role in the 1968 Astros home opener. Larry Dierker was the winning pitcher despite giving up a home run to Roberto Clemente. Bob Aspromonte made the hometown fans cheer the loudest that night. He drove in the winning runs in the bottom of the ninth on a triple with two outs.
Matthew brought to the meeting a bat. The Louisville Slugger “bottle” bat was a 1976 Astros Baseball giveaway promotion celebrating 100 years of baseball (1876-1976.) The bat is signed by about 30 Astros players from the 60’s through the 80’s including Larry Dierker, Bob Aspromonte, and Jimmy Wynn, each of whom was mentioned during the presentation! The autographs were collected by Matthew’s mother and father, both of whom have passed.
Chapter member Jimmy Scruggs presented the results of the chapter’s straw poll of who should be in and out of HOF. The chapter conducted the straw poll during last month’s meeting.
Ted Meyer won the trivia contest in October and will present the trivia contest for us at our next meeting on November 17! The photo attached to this message is chapter newsletter editor Tony Cavender wearing his new hat that he won at the trivia contest. The hat is a replica Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn hat from the movie “Major League.”