Virgil Trucks

Virgil Oliver Trucks (born April 26, 1917 in Birmingham) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1941 through 1958, Trucks 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). He batted and threw right handed.

Career

In a 17-season career, Trucks posted a 177-135 record with 1,534 strikeouts and a 3.39 ERA in 2682.2 innings pitched. His career numbers are not reflective of the quality of his pitching. In 1952, he was 5-19 with the last place Detroit Tigers (50-104). His five wins came from two no-hitters, a one-hitter, and a two hitter. Trucks suffered from playing for poor defensive teams until he came to the Chicago White Sox.

Trucks had an excellent pre-war minor league career (1938-41). He threw 4 no-hitters in the minors and still holds the American Baseball strikeouts in a season record of 418 strikeouts (1938). He struck out another 30 batters in the playoffs.

Trucks is also the uncle of Butch Trucks, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. Trucks' great nephew, Derek Trucks, is currently a member of the Allman Brothers Band and fronts his own band, The Derek Trucks Band. In addition, several of Trucks' other relatives are accomplished musicians.

Best season

• 1953 - 20-10, 149 SO, 2.93 ERA, including eight straight victories.

Highlights

• Twice made the American League All-Star team (1949, 1954)
• Fifth in American League MVP vote (1953, behind Al Rosen, Yogi Berra, Mickey Vernon and Minnie Miñoso)
• 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.
• During his minor league career, set a record with 418 strikouts in a single season (1938) and also pitched four no-hitters.
• Trucks had been in the United States Navy less than two weeks before his start in the second game of the 1945 World Series. The leagues waived the rule requiring players to have been on the team's roster by September 1 to qualify for post-season play, because of the circumstances of World War II. He defeated the Cubs in that game.

References

• 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