This Ain't Brain Surgery: How to Win the Pennant without Losing Your Mind (review)

In This Ain't Brain SurgeryLarry Dierker uses the story of his years as the Astros' manager to tell us his life in baseball. He also talks about the systems and the structures of baseball. We get as much opinion as we get factual information, and in this case that's all right. Dierker has a good command of language and syntax, and the book stands up as a well-written chronicle.

The story begins with Dierker's interview for the manager job, after eighteen years as a player and broadcaster for the club. After sharing the details of his interview and the club's announcement, the author takes us through a carefully crafted and comprehensive look at almost all aspects of playing baseball. He uses the cycle of a season, from spring training to the play-offs, to tell us his own story as well as declare his opinions about the game. In addition, we learn his stories and opinions of major segments of baseball, including management, broadcasting, umpires, scouts, farm systems, and trades. Ethics issues are covered in the chapter "Cheating" and lifestyles of baseball players in "La Vida."

The book title is Dierker's reference to his own brain surgery in 1999—in the middle of his five-year management career—and the shortest chapter in the book. We get a fairly clinical retelling of what happened in the dugout (grand mal seizure) and a similar approach to his recovery. The book closes with the story of his resignation (over in five minutes), compared to his hiring process (four hours of interviews and a press conference).

Some of the gems of the book are repeated here.

On leadership: "I would have to act naturally, do it my own way, take the strong steady approach. Not too much bullshit, just clear instructions and common sense . . . doggedly persistent" (p. 10). "You have to have players who are self-motivated. . . . You have to make them believe you can lead them" (p. 11).

On personal motivation: "I realized I had a chance to do something bold and exciting. . . . If I hadn't taken the job I never would have forgiven myself. . . . Sure, I was scared, and I realized that I might be making a colossal mistake, but I had to do it. I just had to" (p. 12).

On baseball game strategy: "In baseball you really can't have a game plan, you have to react to the circumstances of each pitch in each game" (p. 63).

On pitching: "The best pitchers, like the best magicians, deal in illusions" (p. 76). Rather than arm strength Dierker feels "the fine strokes, the carving and the polishing are more important. . . . They are the swindling tools—they make the hitter understand too late" (p. 76).

On managing: "Nothing is more important than team chemistry. . . . Still, nothing I could do to create a good atmosphere was as important as winning" (p. 116). Larry was part of the statistics believers; his run scoring probability chart, which diagrams "Chance of Scoring" against "Total Run Potential" was clearly a guiding light (p. 127). He also used his intuition: "If there were a book of conventional wisdom and it always worked, there would be no art to managing" (p. 130).

On trades, drafts, and the farm system:

I cannot write a formula for success, even with unlimited funds: It takes an owner who is willing to gamble, a general manager who can see the difference between Joe Morgan and Tommy Helms, and it takes a lot of good scouts and a and good farm system. Even the best teams aren't two-deep at every position. Consequently, it takes a little luck in the injury department.

(p. 228)

An interesting aspect to the book for this reader is that it feels like a long, thoughtful broadcast. This is a careful, well-thought-out retelling of Larry Dierker's...