80th birthday reflections from Astros legend Larry Dierker

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart's Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

HOUSTON -- When you consider his 13 years as a player, 18 years in the broadcast booth, five seasons as a manager and various other times he felt compelled to go the ballpark, Larry Dierker has probably seen more Astros games in person than anyone else. That’s around 6,000 games, which would account for more than half of the games in club history.

One of the most interesting and cerebral men to ever wear an Astros uniform, Dierker has done a little bit of everything for the organization, from helping sell tickets in the Astrodome to building a storied career as a starting pitcher, to becoming an accomplished broadcaster and manager. Dierker has written multiple books, penned columns for the local newspaper, hosted a podcast and even once had a bar at then-Minute Maid Park called “Larry’s Big Bamboo.”

“I was the ultimate utility man,” he joked.

The venerable Dierker turns 80 years old today, which is also the 62nd anniversary of his Major League debut. He plans on celebrating by joining his wife, Lynda, and some friends to listen to live music, likely while wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Lynda threw him a birthday bash Saturday, with more than 100 people attending, including former teammates Enos Cabell, Roger Metzger, Tom Griffin, Bill Greif and Scipio Spinks and former Astros general manager Tal Smith.

“It was a moveable feast,” Dierker said. “It started in a church across the street and ended up in our townhome. It was just wonderful. She worked a lot on it for three or four months. She had everything covered. I think everybody was really pleased, and I know I was. I would have never done anything on my own to make 80 special, but she did.”

Dierker, signed by Houston as an amateur free agent in 1964, made his debut for the Colt .45s on his 18th birthday -- Sept. 22, 1964, at Colt Stadium. He struck out Willie Mays looking to end the first inning. That was the start of an amazing career in which Dierker won 137 games with the Astros and threw the first no-hitter in the Astrodome. When he retired after the 1977 season, he owned the franchise records for innings pitched, starts, complete games, and shutouts.

Nearly 50 years later, he still does.

“'Never' is a strong word, but if baseball continues to move toward power pitching and power hitting and removing starters before they get to 100 pitches, as long as those norms are in place, nobody will break any of those records,” he said.

Dierker became the franchise’s first 20-game winner when he went 20-13 with a 2.33 ERA in 1969 and made the first of his two All-Star teams. On Sept. 13 of that season, he threw 12 scoreless innings in a game against the Braves and took a no-decision. A few months earlier, he threw 11 innings in a game, en route to logging 2,294 1/3 innings with Houston (he threw 39 1/3 innings with St. Louis in his final season in 1977).

“The last couple of years pitching here, I was always worried from one start to the next if my arm would hold up enough to make the next start,” he said. “There was a considerable amount of discomfort doing my job at that point, but I look back and I still pitched several complete games and a few shutouts in my last year, including the no-hitter. I was throwing sidearm by then. I was straight over the top when I started.”

After playing, Dierker went to the broadcast booth and was behind the microphone for some of the greatest moments in team history, often alongside Milo Hamilton. The Astros plucked him from the booth after dismissing Terry Collins in 1996 and put him in the dugout. He won four NL Central titles (1997-99 and ’01) in five seasons, including a club-record 102 games in 1998, when he was named NL Manager of the Year. That cemented his place as an Astros legend. His No. 49 was retired in 2002 and his place in Astros history was secure.

Still active and playing golf, Dierker has no regrets about a baseball life well-lived.

“When I look back at it, sometimes I’m surprised I did all that stuff and I know I wish I had more to do,” he said. “I guess it’s one of the mysteries of life: You either have too much to do or not enough. The ideal life is when you have a lot to do, and it’s things that you enjoy.”