Customer Reviews

This Ain't Brain Surgery: How to Win the Pennant Without Losing Your Mind

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Big Dierker fan here, and bought it before it came out. The above review is correct. Very general, abstract, obtuse, lazy - whatever you prefer to call it. I'm a huge Astros fan and if there was anyone to write about them - and write well - it's Dierker. Too bad he only hints/skims at things and doesn't want to make anyone angry. I wanted anecdotes from his playing days, broadcast booth and managing in particular. Got that but nothing in depth. Maybe he doesn't want to break the code, but then why write the book? I had heard this was in the making for some time. His diary when managing was optioned but was so damning he pulled it.

Instead we get great info in passing or teased and then move on when you want alot more and know he has it. This book lacks an index and that should have told me something - he never dwells on any person for more than a paragraph.

Radar sounded hilarious. Chris Holt loser. Milo is goofy. We want more of that. We knew it but its great fodder.

All in all. I love the Wrangler. He's Mr. Astro and a very smart writer. He's a great guy and I think this was edited to keep him as the nice guy or at least not a distraction. He never mentions his nickname Wrangler. Which by the way he got by showing up as a broadcaster in spring training sporting Wrangler jeans. Not here.

I lived in the Houston during the mid-60s and the both Astros and the Astrodome were two of the most exciting elements of the city. None of that whimsy and glee is reflected in Dierker's book. You don't get a feel for the great Astro characters such as Jimmy Wynn, Rusty Staub or Bob Aspromonte. Sadder still is the fact that Dierker worked with the great Gene Elston in the broadcast booth for many years and Elston is seldom mentioned. The definitive Astros book is still waiting to be written.

This is an excellent book that gives insight into the game that the ordinary fan would never get a chance to see. The book has sections dedicated to different aspects of the game including managing, umpires, the farm system, and more, and Larry has great stories for each one. As an Astros fan my favorite parts were the ones that talked about his dealings with some of the current and former Astros. It was interesting to read about the interactions he had with the players, and how he regarded some of the players in the clubhouse. As a player, broadcaster, and manager he witnessed enough to come up with an excellent book that makes great reading for any Astros fan, and that baseball fans in general can appreciate too.

This sports book was very easy to read and enjoy, because the author told stories the way we like to hear them. He told about the game and its traditions, and then some of the behind the scenes stuff we love to read.
Can't wait for the next one from Larry.

I enjoyed this book greatly. Larry Dierker is a very bright guy who seems to have a gift for looking at situations and seeing them from angles that other sports figures would never find. An example of this is his telling Darryl Kyle to improve his pitching by playing a lot of serious golf in the off season. He also has the capacity to be self critical in ways that appear to be quite honest. He has real writing talent, which I always enjoyed when he wrote columns for the Houston paper when he was in the broadcast booth. He comes across as a guy you'd love to tip a few with.

I like the way the book is organized, with chapters dedicated to individual baseball topics like spring training, scouts, etc. and relating Dierker's experience in the area. There's enough humor to generate plenty of smiles and enough serious stuff to let a reader get a feel for what baseball players, managers and broadcasters go through.

In my opinion, if you have any interest in baseball you should enjoy this book.

I enjoyed Dierker's book. I met him at a book signing, and his jovial nature was enough for me to shell out the money.

I liked it. It was as if he was sitting in the broadcast booth telling stories during a rain delay. But like an actual broadcast, he was careful not to start any fires. Sure he ripped Chris Holt, and a couple of others, but he left me wanting. If you are writing a tell all, then tell all. Later I read that he optioned his journal during the first season, but pulled it back because it was too inflamatory. I would pay a bill to read that.

Early in the book, when he tells Hunsicker that Biggio and Bagwell won't be a problem and then alludes that they were in the end, I expected some follow up to that. I didn't recieve it. This was one of the most blatant gaffes in the book and I am severely disappointed.

But the book did give an insider perspective that is lacking in most, and it was cool to hear the broadcast or managerial accounts of games I attended. If you are a Astros fan like me, it's worth your time. If not, then approach hesitantly.

Dierker takes you from the sixties to the 2002 season with a very unique view of the almost champion Houston Astros!!!! This is a very good accounting of the history of the team, Dierker's days as a player, his time as a manager, and the inner workings of the team and players of the late nineties and early 2000s!!! The book is approximately 300 pages long and the first 180 pages or so fly by as Dierker gives you rare insight into the Astros (probably the least-written about team in baseball to have won so many division titles). The book slows down as Dierker waxes nostalgic about how to deal with umpires and a few other topics, but even those topics have a refreshing, level-headed quality that make them worth your time. In short, this is a book that should be read by most every Houston Astros fan, and a very good book for those looking for real insight into the game and business of baseball without all of the ego or BS that usually fills managerial retrospectives!!!!

If you are an Astros fan you will love this book. If you are a baseball fan you will appreciate many of Dierker's points but will have to wade through some old Astros baseball stories. Its an easy read and worth the price.

Nice to have an insider tell us about baseball who is literate and funny too. This is the best baseball book I have read in a long time. Looking forward to his next!

I am also a long time Astro fan, but only found the book marginally enjoyable. The first 50 and last 50 pages of the book were more enjoyable when he told humorous stories about his playing and broadcasting days. However, he seemed to me to have lost a lot of his sense of humor when discussing his managerial days . . . perhaps reflecting what a strain the job was on him. I recommend the book, just wish he spent more time talking about his playing days. Also, it seems that he did not really right anything controversial, perhaps because he is still hoping for some kind of baseball job in the future. C'mon, he can't tell me that in the 5 years he managed, he didn't run across at least one prima donna player or front office type that deserves trashing!