What years did Virgil Trucks play?

Virgil Trucks played in Major League Baseball from 1941 to 1958.

Was Virgil Trucks a pitcher?

Yes. Virgil Trucks pitched in the major leagues, recording 177 wins and 1534 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Virgil Trucks hit?

Virgil Trucks hit 2 career home runs with 171 hits.

Did Virgil Trucks win a Cy Young Award?

No. Virgil Trucks did not win the Cy Young Award.

What awards did Virgil Trucks win?

Virgil Trucks was selected to 2 All-Star Games.

What were Virgil Trucks's career stats?

In 517 games, Virgil Trucks went 177-135 with a 3.39 ERA, 1,534 strikeouts, 2,682.1 innings pitched, and 30 saves. At the plate he had 171 hits and 2 home runs.

What position did Virgil Trucks play?

Virgil Trucks played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Virgil Trucks and how much did he weigh?

Virgil Trucks was listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 198 pounds.

What was Virgil Trucks's career ERA?

Virgil Trucks finished with a 3.39 career ERA, going 177-135 with 1,534 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Virgil Trucks have?

Virgil Trucks recorded 1,534 career strikeouts.

Is Virgil Trucks in the Hall of Fame?

No. Virgil Trucks has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

How many All-Star Games did Virgil Trucks make?

Virgil Trucks was selected to 2 All-Star Games.

Virgil Trucks

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1941-1958)

Virgil Trucks was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1941 to 1958 for 5 teams, including the Detroit Tigers, a span of 18 seasons. Across 517 career appearances, he went 177-135 with a 3.39 ERA, 1,534 strikeouts, and 30 saves. He also batted .180 with 2 home runs. Virgil Trucks was a 2-time All-Star. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 22589.4.

W (Wins):: Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):: For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):: Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated October 15, 2026

W–L 177–135

ERA 3.39

WHIP 1.31

SO 1,534

Pitcher PIV 22589.4

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 5'11" / 198 lb
Born: 4/26/1917 in Birmingham, AL, USA
Died: 3/23/2013 in Calera, AL, USA
MLB Debut: 1941-09-27
Last Game: 1958-09-26
Awards: 2× All-Star

Full name: Virgil Oliver Trucks

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Career Pitching Statistics

Virgil Trucks — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
177	135	517	328	124	33	30	2682.1	2,416	1,009	188	1,088	1,534	3.39	22589.4

Career ERA 3.39 vs. league average 3.89 across their career seasons — 12.9% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Virgil Trucks Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1941	DET	AL	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2.0	4	2	0	3	9.00	—	0.0
1942	DET	AL	14	8	28	20	8	2	0	167.2	147	51	74	91	2.74	3.57 (+23%)	2104.8
1943	DET	AL	16	10	33	25	10	2	2	202.2	170	64	52	118	2.84	3.50 (+19%)	2780.9
1945	DET	AL	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	5.1	3	1	2	3	1.69	—	0.0
1946	DET	AL	14	9	32	29	15	2	0	236.2	217	85	75	161	3.23	3.59 (+10%)	702.7
1947	DET	AL	10	12	36	26	8	2	2	180.2	186	91	79	108	4.53	3.97 (-14%)	557.4
1948	DET	AL	14	13	43	26	7	0	2	211.2	190	89	85	123	3.78	4.10 (+8%)	2208.1
1949	DET	AL	19	11	41	32	17	6	4	275.0	209	86	124	153	2.81	4.12 (+32%)	4129.4
1950	DET	AL	3	1	7	7	2	1	0	48.1	45	19	21	25	3.54	4.36 (+19%)	-205.6
1951	DET	AL	13	8	37	18	6	1	1	153.2	153	74	75	89	4.33	4.04 (-7%)	1570.8
1952	DET	AL	5	19	35	29	8	3	1	197.0	190	87	82	129	3.97	3.70 (-7%)	2436.4
1953	SLA	AL	5	4	16	12	4	2	2	88.0	83	30	32	47	3.07	4.14 (+26%)	1784.9
1953	CHA	AL	15	6	24	21	13	3	1	176.1	151	56	67	102	2.86	4.14 (+31%)	2196.8
1954	CHA	AL	19	12	40	33	16	5	3	264.2	224	82	95	152	2.79	3.90 (+28%)	6444.1
1955	CHA	AL	13	8	32	26	7	3	0	175.0	176	77	61	91	3.96	4.00 (+1%)	812.7
1956	DET	AL	6	5	22	16	3	1	1	120.0	104	51	63	43	3.83	3.96 (+4%)	-3114.5
1957	KC1	AL	9	7	48	7	0	0	7	116.0	106	39	62	55	3.03	3.83 (+21%)	-1958.3
1958	KC1	AL	0	1	16	0	0	0	3	22.0	18	5	15	15	2.05	3.86 (+47%)	-263.2
1958	NYA	AL	2	1	25	0	0	0	1	39.2	40	20	24	26	4.54	3.86 (-18%)	402.0
Career · 19 seasons			177	135	517	328	124	33	30	2,682.1	2,416	1,009	1,088	1,534	3.39	—	22,589

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Virgil Trucks — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
517	949	63	171	23	1	2	70	1	9	153	.180	.189	.213	.402	-5,746

Career AVG .180 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — 30.6% below league average.

Career OBP .189 vs. league average .332 across their career seasons — 43.1% below league average.

Career SLG .213 vs. league average .378 across their career seasons — 43.7% below league average.

Career OPS .402 vs. league average .710 across their career seasons — 43.4% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Virgil Trucks Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1941	DET	AL	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1942	DET	AL	28	65	4	8	1	0	0	3	0	0	12	.123	.253 (-51%)	.323 (-62%)	.349 (-60%)	.672 (-61%)	-602.4
1943	DET	AL	33	72	7	13	1	0	0	7	0	2	4	.181	.255 (-29%)	.324 (-38%)	.346 (-44%)	.671 (-41%)	-446.2
1945	DET	AL	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1946	DET	AL	32	95	4	17	4	0	0	5	0	0	13	.179	.256 (-30%)	.328 (-46%)	.358 (-38%)	.687 (-42%)	-630.3
1947	DET	AL	36	70	7	19	2	0	0	5	0	1	7	.271	.262 (+3%)	.336 (-16%)	.376 (-20%)	.712 (-18%)	-213.8
1948	DET	AL	43	79	6	13	0	1	0	2	0	2	14	.165	.263 (-38%)	.340 (-46%)	.379 (-50%)	.719 (-48%)	-614.6
1949	DET	AL	41	100	6	12	2	0	0	3	0	1	15	.120	.262 (-54%)	.343 (-60%)	.384 (-64%)	.727 (-62%)	-1009.6
1950	DET	AL	7	20	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.150	—	—	—	—	0.0
1951	DET	AL	37	55	5	13	3	0	0	14	0	0	12	.236	.260 (-9%)	.336 (-30%)	.385 (-25%)	.721 (-27%)	-251.7
1952	DET	AL	35	64	3	12	0	0	1	3	1	1	11	.188	.252 (-26%)	.326 (-39%)	.369 (-37%)	.696 (-38%)	-380.6
1953	SLA	AL	16	25	0	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	3	.160	—	—	—	—	0.0
1953	CHA	AL	24	63	6	15	3	0	1	6	0	0	10	.238	.264 (-10%)	.335 (-26%)	.397 (-16%)	.733 (-20%)	0.0
1954	CHA	AL	40	93	5	17	2	0	0	8	0	1	21	.183	.261 (-30%)	.333 (-44%)	.390 (-48%)	.723 (-46%)	-706.7
1955	CHA	AL	32	64	2	8	1	0	0	6	0	0	12	.125	.258 (-52%)	.332 (-63%)	.393 (-64%)	.726 (-64%)	-666.8
1956	DET	AL	22	45	4	11	2	0	0	2	0	0	4	.244	—	—	—	—	0.0
1957	KC1	AL	48	28	1	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	10	.143	—	—	—	—	0.0
1958	KC1	AL	16	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1958	NYA	AL	25	8	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	0	2	.250	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 19 seasons			517	949	63	171	23	1	2	70	1	9	153	.180	—	—	—	—	-5,523

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Virgil Trucks — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Virgil Trucks — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1945	WS	DET	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Virgil Trucks — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	0	2	2	0	13.1	14	5	5	7	3.38

Playoff Pitching by Year

Virgil Trucks — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1945	WS	DET	1	0	2	2	0	13.1	14	5	5	7	3.38

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1034 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Virgil Trucks — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	256	455	26	94	1	31	.207
Away	261	495	37	77	1	38	.156

Pitching — Home / Away

Virgil Trucks — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	256	1348.0	1187	512	542	781	3.42
Away	261	1334.1	1229	498	547	755	3.36

Last 10 Games — Batting

Virgil Trucks — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	H	RBI	SO
1958-09-26	NYY	BAL	L	0	0	0	0
1958-09-14	NYY	KC1	W	3	1	2	1
1958-09-09	NYY	CLE	L	0	0	0	0
1958-09-05	NYY	MIN	L	0	0	0	0
1958-08-30	NYY	MIN	L	1	0	0	0
1958-08-27	NYY	KC1	L	0	0	0	0
1958-08-24	NYY	DET	L	0	0	0	0
1958-08-22	NYY	CHW	W	1	0	0	0
1958-08-17	NYY	BOS	L	0	0	0	0
1958-08-12	NYY	BAL	W	1	1	1	0

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Virgil Trucks — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1958-09-26	NYY	BAL	L	2.0	2	2	2	3	3	0
1958-09-14	NYY	KC1	W	6.0	2	0	0	4	5	0
1958-09-09	NYY	CLE	—	0.1	2	2	2	1	0	0
1958-09-05	NYY	MIN	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1958-08-30	NYY	MIN	—	2.2	4	1	1	0	1	0
1958-08-27	NYY	KC1	—	1.0	2	1	1	0	0	0
1958-08-24	NYY	DET	—	1.2	1	2	0	1	0	1
1958-08-22	NYY	CHW	SV	2.0	3	1	1	1	0	0
1958-08-17	NYY	BOS	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0
1958-08-12	NYY	BAL	SV	1.1	1	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Virgil Trucks — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	517	82	156	420	27	14

Season-by-Season Fielding

Virgil Trucks — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1941	DET	P	1	0	1	0	0	0
1942	DET	P	28	0	5	28	3	0
1943	DET	P	33	0	16	24	0	0
1945	DET	P	1	0	1	1	0	0
1946	DET	P	32	0	11	33	3	1
1947	DET	P	36	0	13	22	2	0
1948	DET	P	43	0	13	28	0	1
1949	DET	P	41	0	13	33	2	2
1950	DET	P	7	0	2	13	1	1
1951	DET	P	37	0	11	32	3	2
1952	DET	P	35	0	21	37	2	1
1953	SLA	P	16	0	3	13	6	1
1953	CHA	P	24	0	11	29	0	2
1954	CHA	P	40	33	10	48	0	1
1955	CHA	P	32	26	4	33	0	1
1956	DET	P	22	16	6	18	3	1
1957	KC1	P	48	7	8	21	1	0
1958	KC1	P	16	0	4	3	1	0
1958	NYA	P	25	0	3	4	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Virgil Trucks Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	517

Award Voting History

Virgil Trucks — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max
1954	Most Valuable Player	AL	12th	19.0	336
1953	Most Valuable Player	AL	5th	81.0	336
1951	Most Valuable Player	AL	30th	2.0	336
1949	Most Valuable Player	AL	22th	3.0	336

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Virgil Trucks (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Virgil Trucks: the record in brief

Virgil Trucks's major league career runs from a debut on September 27, 1941 to a final game on September 26, 1958. By club, Trucks's seasons break down as the Detroit Tigers (1941 through 1956), the St. Louis Browns (1953), the Chicago White Sox (1953 through 1955), the Kansas City Athletics (1957 to 1958), and the New York Yankees (1958). Trucks played primarily as a pitcher and both batted and threw right-handed. The bio adds a birth date on April 26, 1917, in Birmingham, AL, USA and a listed size of 5'11" and 198 pounds. The bio records the death on March 23, 2013, in Calera, AL, USA. Virgil Trucks was the playing name; the full given name is Virgil Oliver.

Trucks pitched in 517 games, starting 328, and finished with a 177-135 record and 3.39 ERA. Also on Trucks's record: 1,534 strikeouts, 124 complete games, 33 shutouts, and 30 saves.

Frequently Asked Questions about Virgil Trucks

What years did Virgil Trucks play?: Virgil Trucks played in Major League Baseball from 1941 to 1958.
Was Virgil Trucks a pitcher?: Yes. Virgil Trucks pitched in the major leagues, recording 177 wins and 1534 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Virgil Trucks hit?: Virgil Trucks hit 2 career home runs with 171 hits.
What teams did Virgil Trucks play for?: Virgil Trucks played for 5 teams: the Detroit Tigers (1941–1943, 1945–1952, 1956), the St. Louis Browns (1953), the Chicago White Sox (1953–1955), the Kansas City Athletics (1957–1958), and the New York Yankees (1958).
Did Virgil Trucks win a Cy Young Award?: No. Virgil Trucks did not win the Cy Young Award.
What awards did Virgil Trucks win?: Virgil Trucks was selected to 2 All-Star Games.
What were Virgil Trucks's career stats?: In 517 games, Virgil Trucks went 177-135 with a 3.39 ERA, 1,534 strikeouts, 2,682.1 innings pitched, and 30 saves. At the plate he had 171 hits and 2 home runs.
What position did Virgil Trucks play?: Virgil Trucks played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Virgil Trucks and how much did he weigh?: Virgil Trucks was listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 198 pounds.
What was Virgil Trucks's career ERA?: Virgil Trucks finished with a 3.39 career ERA, going 177-135 with 1,534 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Virgil Trucks have?: Virgil Trucks recorded 1,534 career strikeouts.
Is Virgil Trucks in the Hall of Fame?: No. Virgil Trucks has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
How many All-Star Games did Virgil Trucks make?: Virgil Trucks was selected to 2 All-Star Games.