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Virgil
Trucks
Exclusive
interview by Harold
Friend
Website: Suite101
Editor's Note: The Highlander has
now added exclusive player
interviews with some of
baseball's biggest legends. Joe
Gillespie from NbO
Baseball has been kind
enough to help us get in touch
with some of baseball's greatest
players. In addition to being one
of the most sought after
autographs, Virgil also has a
biography coming out this year
entitled: "Throwing Heat: The
Life and Times of Virgil Trucks"
which was written and produced by
Ronnie Joyner and Bill Bozman.
Stay tuned for official release
and ordering info in future
issues.
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Name: Virgil
Oliver Trucks (Nickname:
Fire)
Position:
Right-handed
pitcher
Born:
April
26, 1917 in Birmingham,
Alabama
Career
span: 1941-1958
Teams: Detroit
Tigers 1941-1952, 1956,
St. Louis Browns 1953,
Chicago White Sox
1953-1955, Kansas City
Athletics 1957-1958, New
York Yankees 1958
Best
year: 1949:
19-11, 2.81 ERA, 153
strikeouts, 6
shutouts
Career
highlights: Won 177
total games, completed
124, struck out 1543 and
had an ERA of 3.94. He
pitched 33 shutouts and
in 1953 was a 20 game
winner.
Major
awards: American
League All Star, 1949,
1954
Click here for complete
Baseball-Almanac.com
bio
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No one has ever
pitched three no hitters in a
single season, but it is not
widely known that in 1952, after
Virgil Trucks pitched a no hitter
against Washington on May 15, he
faced them again on July 22 and
retired 26 batters in a row. The
only problem was that Eddie Yost
led off the game by hitting
Trucks' first pitch for a clean
single. Not one to be
discouraged, Trucks pitched a no
hitter against the Yankees on
September 25 to join Johnny
VanDerMeer and Allie Reynolds as
the only players to have two no
hitters in a single season. Nolan
Ryan later joined the exclusive
group. The Highlander recently
had the privilege of interviewing
Virgil Trucks, who has written a
fascinating book, Throwing Heat:
The Life and Times of Virgil
Trucks. What follows are the
highlights of that interview in
which Mr. Trucks discussed some
of his baseball
experiences.
Mr. Trucks, you
became a Yankee in 1958 at the
age of 41. What was your reaction
when you discovered that you had
been traded to the
Yankees?
"In
those days, you never found out
you had been traded from the ball
club directly. You usually found
out from the radio or the
newspapers. We were in Boston
when Jackie Jensen, who was
playing center field that day,
happened to go into the clubhouse
between innings and heard that I
had been traded. I was in the
Kansas City bullpen so Jensen
came over to our bullpen and told
me that I was a Yankee. I was
happy, elated and stunned. If I
had spent my entire career with
the Yankees, I would be in the
Hall of Fame."
(NOTE: Virgil
Trucks won 177 games with an ERA
of 3.39. He spent many seasons
with losing teams. He makes an
interesting point since he would
have won many more games had he
been with the Yankees all those
years.)
Mr. Trucks, you
spent most of the 1958 season
with the New York Yankees,
joining them at the trading
deadline, which was June 15. That
Yankees got off to a great start
and on May 22, with a record of
22-5, they were the only team in
the American League with a record
above .500. They played mediocre
baseball the rest of the season
to finish with 92 wins. What was
your impression of the Yankees'
attitude when you joined
them?
"The
Yankees never relaxed and the
opposition could never relax. If
you let up against the Yankees,
you were beaten. They beat us so
many times in the ninth inning,
in our ballpark and in Yankee
Stadium. They didn't do it just
to us. They did it to
everybody."
How did Yankees'
manager Casey Stengel use you
during the 1958 season?
"I
was used mostly in relief but I
started a few games. I won the
game that clinched the 1958
pennant but there were still two
weeks left to the season so it
wasn't that important. I got a
ring for the World Series even
though Stengel didn't put me on
the World Series roster. He
picked Murray Dickson, who was
only with the team for the last
month of the season. I wasn't
happy about that and when the
Yankees asked me to pitch batting
practice for the Series, I was
going to refuse until Milt
Richman, who was a writer at the
time, talked me into
it."
That is a great
anecdote that few know. Tell me,
who were the two or three
toughest hitters for you to get
out?
"The
toughest was probably Ted
Williams but Mantle, Dickey,
DiMaggio and Berra were also
tough. Yogi was tough because he
was a bad ball hitter. He would
swing at anything so you never
knew what to throw him. I would
just throw strikes down the
middle because that was as
effective as anything
else."
If you were
pitching today, who do you think
would be the two or three
toughest hitters for you?
"It
depends on the league but
Sheffield, Bonds, Giambi and
Posada seem tough
outs."
How do you
explain the fact that so many
home runs have been hit so far in
the last few years?
"Most of those
home runs are illegal. The ball
is souped up and little guys hit
long home runs to the opposite
field."
What was the
height of the pitching mound
during the time you
played?
"Well, until
about 1950, there was no set rule
so teams built the mound
according to their pitching
staff."
What is your
opinion of managers having
starting pitchers go six or seven
innings, bringing in a set up man
for an inning or two, and then
going to the closer?
"Well, Stengel
might have started that in the
late 1950s but others didn't
start to use it until the 1980s.
When I pitched, we pitched every
fourth day and often would pitch
in relief the second day after we
started. Two of the worst
managerial moves were made by
John McNamara in the 1986 World
Series and Grady Little in the
playoffs against the Yankees in
2003. McNamara had to replace
Buckner at first. The man was
hurt and was a defensive
liability but he stayed in the
game and it cost the Red Sox.
This past year, while I was
watching Pedro tire against the
Yankees I kept saying that Little
had to go to the bullpen. He
never did and it cost him his
job."
When you were
with the Yankees, their major
rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers were
already in Los Angeles. The
Yankees-Red Sox rivalry paled in
comparison then but has grown to
epic proportions since. What are
your thoughts about the "Curse of
the Bambino?"
"I
really don't know much about it
other than the Yankees acquired
Babe Ruth from Boston, but do you
know about the "Curse of the
Goat?" I actually saw the goat
and the guy who wanted to buy a
ticket for him in order to take
him to the game during the 1945
World Series. I was with the
Tigers and we were at Wrigley
Field. They wouldn't allow the
goat into Wrigley Field so the
guy cursed the Cubs, saying they
would never return to the World
Series. We beat the Cubs in that
Series and the Cubs have not
returned since."
One of baseball
all time greats, Hank Greenberg,
was your teammate on that Tigers
team. How good was he?
"Hank Greenberg
was a super person and a great
player. We were all sorry to see
him go to Pittsburgh after the
1946 season. He was a smart man
and was ahead of his time. Hank
had a clause in his contract that
said the Tigers would have to pay
him $25,000 if they sold or
traded him. In January of 1947,
they sold Hank's contract to
Pittsburgh for $75,000 and Hank
got his money."
Mr. Trucks, it
has been a pleasure to listen to
you. Best of luck with your book
and we hope you enjoy the
upcoming season.
"Thank you. I
really enjoy speaking about
baseball and all the things that
have happened."
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