``Everyone on this team has responded well to Larry,'' all-star second baseman Craig Biggio said before last night's game with the Phillies. ``Sure, we were all surprised when he got the job. Shoot, he was surprised. But he's come in here and let the players play. It's been real nice.''
Dierker replaced the fiery Terry Collins, a tireless worker, committed to his team and his profession. But Collins was also an overbearing control freak. Players began to chafe under his stern rule, and after three straight second-place finishes, he was let go after last season.
Shortly after the firing, Dierker was summoned to a meeting with club management. As a member of the Houston organization almost since its inception, Dierker had often been asked for his opinions on the club. But this meeting was different. Owner Drayton McLane didn't solicit any opinions. He talked about the direction of the franchise and gave his opinion on what he thought the club needed.
Then he offered Larry Dierker the manager's job.
``I had no inkling,'' Dierker said yesterday. ``I was as surprised as you could get. It was a stunner.''
Dierker mulled the offer for an hour.
``I thought about everything, especially what the downside might be,'' he said. ``I thought about what if the team had no success . . . what if I was no good . . . what if I didn't like it.
``I wondered if I knew what I was getting myself into. It had been a long time since I had been on the bench and the player-manager relationship had really changed since I played. I didn't feel at a disadvantage strategy-wise. But I had no experience handling people.''
An hour after being offered the job to manage the team he won 137 games for from 1964 to 1976, Dierker accepted.
``It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,'' he said. ``Whether I was afraid of it or not, I needed to do it.''
