Virgil Trucks died the other day at the age of 95. Virgil Trucks was a fine major league pitcher winning 177 games in his career against 135 losses. His nickname “Fire.” In 1952 he had one of the oddest seasons on record. He had a 5-19 record which is terrible but also that season he really put things together twice- he had 2 no-hitters that year!

Trucks was a very consistant pitcher. He only had 2 losing seasons in the 17 he pitched on the major league level. He was a 2 time All-Star and led the American League in shutouts twice. He had his best season in 1953 when he won 20 games while pitching for two teams- the Browns and White Sox. He pitched most of his career with the Detroit Tigers. After he retired he was a major league coach for a while-he was a coach for the 1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

He is also the uncle of Butch Trucks one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band and his great nephew is Derek Trucks who is currently in The Allman Brothers Band. In reading about him it sounds as if he had a very interesting life.