Subject: Larry Dierker

• Another Bush Slips in the Polls

  February 14, 2007

• You Know, Because Almost Dying for the Team Would Generally Be Considered a Good Thing

  April 9, 2007

• Really, Shouldn't All Inappropriate Touching Be Reported to the Authorities?

  April 2, 2007

• Behind the Music: Craig Biggio

  July 5, 2007

• Craig Biggio to Announce His Retirement

  July 24, 2007

• Biggio Was Really Good, in Terms of Useless Stats

  July 25, 2007

• For a Sucky Team, the Astros Sure Have Retired a Lot of Numbers

  August 27, 2007

• This One's for You, Milo Hamilton

  September 13, 2007

• So Long, Art Briles. Stay Away, Jack Pardee.

  December 5, 2007

• Steroids and Miguel Tejada: Sucks To Be Ed Wade Right Now

  January 15, 2008

• Spring Training: What a Glorious Place to Be, Unless Your Name Is Carlos Lee

  March 7, 2008

• The Five Best Broadcasters in the History of Houston Sports

  May 2, 2008

• A Houston Astros Mid-Season Progress Report

  July 15, 2008

• Is Tal Smith Incompetent or Is This Some Kind of Parallel Universe?

  July 18, 2008

• Astros-Brewers: Corey Hart Still Looking Good

  August 19, 2008

• J.R. Richard: The Human Condition

  September 2, 2004

• Press Picks

  August 4, 1994

• Rickey, Jose, the Hall of Fame, and Me

  The string is unbroken. In the history of the Baseball Hall of Fame, no player has ever been elected unanimously. Not Babe Ruth. Not Nolan Ryan. Not Cal Ripken. Not Tony Gwynn. Not Rickey Henderson. The closest to achieving this elusive milestone was Tom Seaver who got 98.84 percent of the vote the year he was elected. Rickey Henderson came within 28 votes of that mark this year. This means that he only got about 95 percent of the vote. And I don't understand the thinking here. What

  January 14, 2009

• Astros Bring The Game To Acres Homes

  Major League Baseball's Darrell MillerMajor League Baseball, the Astros, and Mayor Bill White unveiled plans today for the Houston Astros MLB Urban Youth Academy, which will be built on the north side of town in the Acres Homes community on Sylvester Turner Park.The academy will include a show field with room for around 2,300 fans, two Little League fields, batting cages, and 1,500 square feet of facilities. It'll be the third of its kind, the first being in Compton, CA; the academy aims to lowe

  January 23, 2009

• John Royal's Top 25 Random Baseball Facts

  There's this new list craze going around Facebook in which you list 25 random things about yourself. And the geniuses at the Big League Stew baseball blog got hold of this and made it into a list of 25 Random Things About Yourself As It Relates to Baseball. Thus... 1. I am happiest in a baseball stadium. I've got no fears, no problems, no troubles. The only thing that exists for me is the baseball game. 2. I worked for the Houston Astros scoreboard/video crew from 1988 through the 2001 s

  February 4, 2009

• Sports Afield

  November 20, 1997

• News Hostage

  June 24, 1999

• Stellar Cellar

  July 27, 2000

• We'll Pay the Filing Fee...

  August 17, 2000

• John Royal's Top 25 Random Baseball Facts

  There's this new list craze going around Facebook in which you list 25 random things about yourself. And the geniuses at the Big League Stew baseball blog got hold of this and made it into a list of 25 Random Things About Yourself As It Relates to Baseball. Thus... 1. I am happiest in a baseball stadium. I've got no fears, no problems, no troubles. The only thing that exists for me is the baseball game. 2. I worked for the Houston Astros scoreboard/video crew from 1988 through the 2001 s

  February 4, 2009

• Rickey, Jose, the Hall of Fame, and Me

  The string is unbroken. In the history of the Baseball Hall of Fame, no player has ever been elected unanimously. Not Babe Ruth. Not Nolan Ryan. Not Cal Ripken. Not Tony Gwynn. Not Rickey Henderson. The closest to achieving this elusive milestone was Tom Seaver who got 98.84 percent of the vote the year he was elected. Rickey Henderson came within 28 votes of that mark this year. This means that he only got about 95 percent of the vote. And I don't understand the thinking here. What

  January 14, 2009

• The Best Houston Astros Home Grown and Acquired Rosters of All Time

  So I was fooling around on the interwebs yesterday, and between the launch of the MLB Network, the naming today of the new class for the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the coming of spring training, I was in a bit of a baseball mood. And I came across this blog detailing the All-Time Rosters for various baseball teams, including the Houston Astros. Now this guy gives two rosters, the All-Time Home Grown team and the All-Time Acquired team. I'll let you go look at his rosters, but I thought I wo

  January 12, 2009

• Peace -- For Now

  A caravan to Cuba isn't hassled. Yet.

  July 15, 2004

• Who's On Deck for the Houston Astros in 2008?

  The Astros' post-Biggio era begins with a lot of unanswered questions, but the biggest one of all is: Just how bad are things going to get?

  April 3, 2008

• A Chat With Hannah Storm Of ESPN (And Houston)

  Photo courtesy ESPNESPN has been charged for years with having an East Coast bias. ESPN's morning SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm somewhat agrees with that charge, though she says the charge doesn't apply to her show and says that to her, "it is a non-issue." And if she does have any bias, it's probably to the Houston Rockets."I love my Rockets," she told Hair Balls yesterday. "I'm totally cheering for the Rockets. The Lakers are tough, but I love what the Rockets are doing this season. I love

  April 16, 2009

• Fanboy Deluxe

  Our Nightfly surrogate brushes with greatness

  June 22, 2006

• Encore or Bust?

  Stressing about the 'Stros begins anew

  April 7, 2005

• Best Color Commentator

  September 23, 2004

• Astro Author

  Larry Dierker remembers the decades he spent with the home team

  July 10, 2003

• Year of the Yao Woo

  The crazy times in 2002 — Kmart raids, Olympian losses, stadium mania and more —- now make sense. Houston was just mining Ming.

  December 26, 2002

• Lay of the Land

  Houston headed toward hard times: sports flops, floods and transit duds. If only city fathers could find a proven leader, an energy executive with a KEN-do attitude.

  January 3, 2002

• Doing All He Can

  Bomb Osama, a KRIV reporter sings

  November 1, 2001

• Blind Faith

  Luke and Rachel Watson have lost most of their sight. They eventually will lose all motor skills. Their parents are losing sleep -- do the adults tell their kids they're dying of Batten disease?

  June 14, 2001

• In For The Long Haul

  Grandma will make it to her top-level seat in the same four hours it takes the team to play a game

  May 4, 2000

• Racism and Cecil Cooper

  Photo by Aaron M. SprecherCecil CooperApparently I'm a racist. I didn't know I was racist, but it seems that because I think Cecil Cooper is an idiot I'm a racist. At least that what's Jose de Jesus Ortiz blogs over at Chron.com. But here's the catch, Ortiz is responding to people accusing him of being racist because he's been criticizing Cooper. So if Ortiz is racist, then I'm definitely a racist because I definitely think Cooper is in over his head as a major league baseball manager. The

  May 22, 2009

• Listen Up, People: The Top Ten Coaches In Houston History

  ​The Chron's Jerome Solomon has another of those endless lists we writers like to do, this one asking for input on the top 10 coaches in Houston college and pro sports history. And he helpfully provides us with some candidates for the list. So I thought I would help out and provide what I consider to be the definitive list of the Top 10 coaches in Houston college and pro sports history.  1. Guy V. Lewis: One of the most underrated, under appreciated coaches in history. It's a crime that t

  August 11, 2009

• Oh, The Changes I'd Make To The Astros

  Photo by Aaron M. SprecherIf Ed Wade were gone...​The Astros Fan Blogger at Chron.com had an interesting post  late last week.The gist of the post was that Drayton McLane had just fired Ed Wade and that he'd made the reader the general manager, then he wanted to know the first five things one would do as the general manager.The blogger himself had some decent ideas, but I thought I would give my five suggestions. So as the new general manager of the Houston Astros, my first five actions w

  August 17, 2009

• Which Houston Team Has The Dumbest Front Office?

  ​Richard Justice actually had a decent blog post the other day. In it, he attempted to evaluate which of Houston's big three sports franchises was the smartest -- sorry Dynamo fans, he didn't include them because he says the team hasn't been here long enough, and I won't include them because I consider MLS to be a minor league when it comes to soccer. And for the most part, I think he got it right, but I would switch the Astros and Texans around.Without a doubt, the best run and smartest franc

  August 26, 2009

• Hey Astros: Call Frank Robinson, For Crying Out Loud

  ​Richard Justice is back on the Fire Cecil Cooper bandwagon, but this time, instead of Jeff Bagwell, he's back to urging Drayton McLane to hire third base coach Dave Clark. Clark has no major league managing experience, and he sucks as a third base coach. Yet this is the guy that Justice wants to be the new manager.Drayton McLane has hired five managers since firing Art Howe, the manager he inherited from the prior ownership. Three of those five managers were first-time-ever managers (Terry Co

  September 8, 2009

• The (Alleged) Tragedy Of How The Astros Are Treating Jose Cruz

  ​So Jose Cruz is no longer the first-base coach of the Houston Astros. Now can someone please tell me why everybody is so upset? Seriously, what's the big deal?The guy was the first-base coach. His job consisted of patting Lance Berkman on the ass and showing the pitchers where second base was located on those rare occasions when they reached first base. Even the bullpen coach serves a more useful function than Cruz, and I don't hear anybody bitching about Mark Bailey losing his job in the bul

  October 15, 2009

• With Drayton, Astros' Manager Search Is Sure To Suck

  ​For some reason, Astros fans appear to be more concerned about the transfer of Jose Cruz from one useless job to another useless job than they care about whether the team actually gets a decent manager. Believe it or not, the manager of a team is far more important to the team's success than Jose Cruz.And with the list of potential managers being interviewed by the Astros, it looks like a successful team really isn't that important to Drayton McLane either.Everybody really seems to be real hi

  October 16, 2009

• Our Condolences To New Astro Manager Brad Mills

  ​Let me be the first to offer my condolences to Brad Mills. Now I'm sure Mills doesn't think he needs my condolences. After all, he just achieved his dream, which is becoming the manager of a major league baseball team.But that team is the Houston Astros.Mills, who accepted the job today, was actually the second choice of Astros management. But as in all things except Carlos Lee, Drayton McLane was too cheap to pay, and Manny Acta, the team's first choice, turned them down to take the manag

  October 27, 2009