Virgil Trucks

Virgil Oliver "Fire" Trucks (born April 26, 1917 in Birmingham) is a former Major League pitcher who started as a right-hander from 1941 to 1958 and recorded two no-hitters in a single season in 1952, one of only four pitchers to have done so.

Trucks was one of 13 children in his family. He played outfield on his father's sandlot team and for American Leagion teams as a boy. After high school he joined a textile league team in Shawmut (Chambers County), where catcher Brunner Nix coached his conversion into a pitcher. His pitching caught the notice of the Andalusia Bulldogs of the Alabama-Florida League (Class D) and he agreed to play for $35 a game during the 1937 league playoffs. He won two games and Andalusia defeated Union Springs for the league championship.

Trucks was offered a full-time contract with the team for 1938, but Eddie Goosetree had already signed him up with the Detroit Tigers who wanted him to play for their minor league affiliate in Beaumont, Texas. He didn't report to either camp and, instead, went back to his textile league team in 1938. While there his Shawmut team defeated the Atlanta Crackers 2-1 in an exhibition game in which Trucks pitched six shutout innings. When Atlanta's Paul Richards tried to sign him to yet another contract, it fell to team manager Bob James to sort out the offers. Since Detroit had pigeonholed their contract, Trucks was told to report to Andalusia. He arrived just in time to pitch the opening game of the 1938 season. He set a record that year with 418 regular-season strikeouts, which is still the fourt-best total ever recorded by a minor league pitcher. He struck out another 30 batters in two playoff games. His record was 25-6 with a 1.25 ERA. The team used their star only for home games to maximize his drawing power.

Goosetree was dispatched to sign the right-hander back to Detroit under the threat of losing his job. He offered the Bulldogs $10,000 for Trucks, enough to pay off their stadium lights. He pitched for Beaumont in 1939 and 1940, then was promoted to Buffalo in 1941. He was called up to the majors and debuted in a Tigers uniform on September 27, 1941. He pitched in relief in his only start that season, and allowed Joe Kuhel to steal home.

Over the next two seasons Trucks recorded 30 wins with an ERA well below 3.00. In 1944 he joined the U. S. Navy and servereported to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center where his Navy team went 50-2. He pitched the opening game of the Army-Navy World Series in Hawaii organized by Admiral Nimitz, winning it 5-0 on the way to a 9-1-1 series record.

He served his tour in the South Pacific and rejoined the Tigers at the end of the 1945 season during a pennant race with the Washington Senators. He allowed one run in 6 innings in the only game he started against St Louis. The Browns rallied to go up three going into the ninth, but Detroit's Greenberg hit a grand slam to send the Tigers to the World Series. Trucks pitched a complete game to win the second in the series against the Cubs, which the Tigers won, 4 games to 3. Though he had only pitched in three games, the team voted to give him a half-share of the championship bonus.

Trucks entered the Major Leagues in 1941. He played for the Detroit Tigers (1941-1943, 1945-1952, 1956), St Louis Browns (1953), Chicago White Sox (1953-1955), Kansas City Athletics (1958) and New York Yankees (1958).

In his 17-season career, Trucks posted an overall 177-135 record with 1,534 strikeouts and a 3.39 ERA in 2682.2 innings pitched. His prime years were with the woeful Detroit Tigers who provided neither offensive or defensive support for his pitching.

In 1952, he was 5-19 with the last place Tigers (50-104). His five wins came from two no-hitters, a one-hitter, and a two hitter. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox for 1953 and enjoyed his best season, going 20-10 with eight straight victories and racking up 149 strikeouts and a 2.93 ERA. He finished fifth in the voting for that year's American League MVP, behind Al Rosen, Yogi Berra, Mickey Vernon and Minnie Miñoso.

In 1963 Trucks was hired as a pitching coach by the Pittsburg Pirates.

Highlights

• Twice made the American League All-Star team (1949, 1954)
• Led AL in strikeouts (1949 [153])
• Twice led AL in shutouts (1949 [6], 1954 [5])
• While with the Tigers in (1952), pitched a pair of no-hitters, both by a score of 1-0, against the Washington Senators (May 15) and New York Yankees (August 25), joining Johnny Vander Meer, Allie Reynolds and Nolan Ryan as the only major league pitchers to accomplish this feat in a single season.

Trucks' family is known for its muscial accomplishments. Virgil Trucks is the uncle of Butch Trucks, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. His great nephew, Derek Trucks, is currently a member of that band and fronts his own band, the Derek Trucks Band.

References

• Trucks, Virgil O. (2004) Throwing Heat: The Life and Times of Virgil "Fire" Trucks. Pepperpot Press.
• Joyner, Ronnie "Virgil Trucks: Throwing Heat was Fire’s Department." Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society.
• Segrest, Doug (May 2, 2007) "55 years after throwing no-hitters, Virgil Trucks still a hit with fans." Birmingham News.
• "Virgil Trucks." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 May 2007, 14:08 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 May 2007 [1].

External links

• Baseball Library
• Baseball Reference