Posted on 03/24/2013 5:55:57 PM PDT by EveningStar
Former big league pitcher Virgil Trucks passed away yesterday at the age of 95. Trucks sustained serious injuries in a fall last summer and would never fully recover.
Nicknamed ‘Fire’ on account of both his name and his blazing fastball, Trucks had a stellar 17-year big league career in which he recorded 177 wins. The lion’s share of those wins came with the Detroit Tigers. Trucks made his big league debut in Detroit late in the 1941 season.
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Sad news - Mr. Trucks was a fine man. Some years back he was a patient in the hospital where my wife’s a nurse. When he found out that I was a baseball fan, he gave her a couple of autographed baseball cards to give to me....
RIP.
I was raised up on baseball in the 1950’s, when baseball was a fun sport. I had several of Virgil’s baseball cards along with superstar cards from 1955 thru 1964. Went in Navy in 1968 and my mother threw them all away.I always teased her about throwing my fortune away.
Ted Williams spoke very highly of him.
Of note:
Trucks is part of a musical family. His nephew Butch Trucks is a drummer and founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. His great nephew Derek Trucks is a guitarist and also a member of The Allman Brothers Band and the Tedeschi Trucks Band.
Just thought of him this AM when I read the latest winter storm named Virgil. I could think of only a few other (Virgil Fox, the organist , for one).
Ted Williams - the greatest hitter of all time.
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