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The 1938 Season
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Virgil Trucks and Everyone Else
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Season Highlights & Events
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1938 AFL players who played in the majors:
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The third AFL season was a pivotal one for the league. For the first time,
national attention would be focused on the league because of Andalusia’s bright new star, Virgil Trucks. Detroit scout Eddie Goosetree had already signed Trucks to a contract after seeing him pitch in 1937, but Detroit had not signed off on the deal, so Trucks started his season at Andalusia. Based on his outstanding 1937 playoff performance, Andalusia’s owner, a local doctor named Gresham, agreed to pay Trucks $500 for the season. Trucks, working under two contracts, was scheduled to pitch the opener against Evergreen. Virgil immediately set the league on fire: His blazing fastball was so beyond the Greenies’ ability to make contact that he struck out 20 Evergreen batters. Goosetree was in the stands, and he was determined to ink Trucks to a binding deal for Detroit. He and Gresham worked out a deal, reputedly for $10,0000, and with the provision that Trucks stay in Andalusia for the season to fulfill his contractual obligation to the Rams. Trucks continued to impress all who saw him pitch. He mowed down 19 Panama City Pelicans three weeks after his first start . Eight days after that, Trucks again feasted on the hapless Evergreen Greenies, striking out 19 and pitching a no-hitter. On May 30th, Trucks topped his 20-strikeout record, mowing down 22 batters. With the baseball world taking notice, Trucks quickly became the league’s primary draw. This fact not lost on the Gresham, who realized that pitching Trucks on the road did not line his own pockets with the abundant gate receipts that Virgil could produce. By mid-summer, Gresham refused to let Trucks pitch anywhere but at the Andalusia Fairgrounds. The Rams weren’t going to allow other teams to profit at the gate when their star on the mound! Gresham wasn’t the only opportunist to see Trucks as a potential windfall: Luther « Luke » Gunnells, Andalusia’s shortstop, had a plan to make them both a better sum of money. Gunnells was not beyond a little shady dealing and had a bit of a reputation. Gunnells had made contact with a mill team in Concord, North Carolina, and he planned to jump the Rams and play there. While there isn’t any proof to the theory, it’s believed that Gunnells was recruited to bring Trucks along. Virgil was a green kid, and an easy mark for the experienced Gunnells. Luther convinced Trucks to leave with him and play for the Mill team, which was offering Trucks $450 a month to come play. Trucks saw no harm in leaving Andalusia and breaking their contract. Of course, he was not only breaking the Andalusia contract, but also the « hushed » Detroit contract. Trucks went up to Concord and pitched in the Independent Carolina League under the aliases of Aikens and Akers. Word quickly reached Virgil’s dad, Oliver Trucks, and he personally retrieved the wayward son before any real damage could be done and brought him back to Andalusia. Trucks missed two starts for the Rams. As the season drew to a close, Trucks approached the all-time strikeout record held by Hoss Radbourne. The record was reported as to be anywhere from 406 to 411, depending on the source (note: Long after1938, it was researched and the new total was determined to be 441). Trucks beat Radbourne’s all-time record by striking out 418 batters for the season. Had Trucks not missed the two starts when he went AWOL, he probably would have beat Radbourne’s revised total too. Detroit paid Gresham for Trucks and moved him up to Beaumont for the 1939 season. Marvin Walker, Andalusia baseball expert, says that Detroit never paid $10,000 for Trucks. That amount was the reported cost of Andalusia’s lighting system. The Rams actually received $2000, which went to paying off the cost of the lighting. In essence, Trucks was traded for stadium lights. President George Grant had to feel good about the league’s managerial leadership in 1938: Former major leaguers Harry Rice, Yam Yaryan, Doc Wingard, and Fred Lucas all managed in 1938. The Dothan Browns were strong all season, holding the league lead consistently through the summer, but the amazing pitching of Virgil Trucks made Andalusia the team to watch. The league also finally succeeded in keeping all six teams in place for the entire season, although it was apparent that Evergreen would not return for the 1939 season. Besides Trucks’ brilliant pitching, the top story of the season was the playoff debacle that cost George Grant his presidency: Dothan, finishing in first place, faced Trucks’ Andalusia Rams in the first round of the « Shaughnessey » playoff system. In this playoff format, the first and fourth placed teams and the second and third placed teams squared off in best of 5 series play. The winner of each then played the final best of seven series. Dothan and Andalusia were the first placed and fourth placed teams repectively, Union Springs (2nd) and Troy (3rd) faced-off in the other series.The Browns and Rams played to a 2-2 tie in games and fan interest was high for the finale. It never came: The league announced after the fourth game that a coin toss would determine the location of the fifth and final game of the series. Dothan manager, Doc Wingard, demanded that the game be played in Dothan by virtue of the Browns’ first-placed finish and refused to acknowledge any coin toss result, good or bad. When the league refused to give into Wingard’s demand, he refused to allow Dothan to play the game at all. President Grant and the league secretary spent the next 24 hours trying to bring the two sides together, but Wingard wouldn’t budge. Dothan forfeited, and Andalusia moved on to the finals. President Grant, the man who started the league, was painted as the goat and his pride was stung by the controversy. An article appeared, written (or ghost-written) by Grant himself, explaining that all teams were notified in writing of the coin toss rule in a letter issued on August 31st. Grant said that the Dothan team president knew of the arrangement before the series started and had made no comment about it, good or bad. It’s quite possible that Dothan’s president didn’t inform Wingard, thereby catching him totally off guard when the coin toss was performed, but the end result is that Grant looked like the fool. Whether it was George Grant’s choice or not, the forfeit controversy created a need for a change at the top. 1939 would find a new man in charge of the AFL. The Troy Trojans beat Andalusia in the final series, and the league said goodbye to the man who put them on the map: Virgil Trucks. |
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Virgil Trucks in 1938
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The league played a 130 game season. For the first time, there was no split season.
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Four of the six managers starting the season were former major leaguers: Harry Rice,
Yam Yaryan, Doc Wingard, and Fred Lucas. |
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Panama City’s manager, Rudy Lacowski had six years of professional playing experience
before becoming the Pelicans manger…at the age of 23. |
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Harry Rice was well known as a strong hitting outfielder for the St. Louis Browns,
Detroit, Washington and Cincinnati. Rice’s lifetime batting average was .299 over 10 years, and at 37 years of age, the AFL gave him a chance to be a player manager for the Evergreen Greenies. Rice wasn’t the greatest manager, but he could still swing the bat. By June, he decided to try his luck playing in Florida. When he left the AFL, his league leading batting average was .453. |
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Virgil Trucks
Bob Ferguson Adrian Zabala Doc Wingard Fred Lucas Howie Gorman Vance Dinges Yam Ferguson and Dinges also played for Andalusia |
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Conecuh Count Court House, Evergreen
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Commercial Bank Of Andalusia
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The 1938 forfeit by Dothan in the playoffs eventually spelled the end of George Grant’s
reign as the AFL’s president |
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Ernie « Doc » Wingard
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Actually, that’s supposed to be Dothan in first place, not New Orleans!
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