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.

Career

Trucks had an excellent pre-war minor league career (1938-41). He threw four 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 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.

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 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.

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

• 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