The Alabama Florida League Web Site

The 1938 Alabama-Florida League Season

OVERVIEW

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.

POINTS OF INTEREST

The league played a 130 game season with no first and second half in 1938.

Four of the six managers starting the season were former major leaguers: Harry Rice, Yam Yaryan, Doc Wingard, and Fred Lucas.

Panama City's manager, Rudy Lacowski had six years of professional playing experience before becoming the Pelicans manager...at the age of 23.

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.

Future major leaguers playing in 1938: Virgil Trucks, Bob Ferguson, Howie Gorman, Vance Dinges, Adrian Zabala

After Virgil Trucks started to become an attraction in the league, the Andalusia management started pitching him only at home. They didn't want another town to profit from Trucks' drawing power when they could benefit from it.

1938 Season	Won	Lost	Tie	PCT	GB
Dothan	77	53	0	.592
Troy	71	59	1	.546	6
Andalusia	70	60	1	.538	7
Union Springs	70	60	0	.538	7
Panama City	55	75	1	.423	22
Evergreen	47	83	1	.362	30

1938 Shaugnnessey Playoffs
Andalusia defeated Dothan: 3 games to 2 (Dothan forfeited game 5)
Troy defeated Union Springs: 3 games to 1
Troy defeated Andalusia: 4 games to 2

Team Name	Managers	Batting Leader	Home Run Leader	RBI Leader	Wins Leader	Losses Leader	ERA Leader
Andalusia Rams	Yam Yaryan	Howie Gorman .318	Ed Mackey 11	Yam Yaryan 78	Virgil Trucks 25	Francis Manheim 16	Virgil Trucks 1.25
Dothan Browns	Doc Wingard	Doc Wingard .357	Al Smathers 13	Doc Wingard 100	Jose Lovetere 17	Joe Beaguez 13	Jose Lovetere 3.20
Evergreen Greenies	Harry Rice	Joe Cudillo .334	Bill Walls 12	Ralph McDuffie 72	Lee Anthony 19	Lee Anthony 15	Lee Anthony 2.99
Panama City Pelicans	Rudy Lacowski	Woody Davis .313	Harvey Johnson 7	Russ Stewart 70	Forrest Austin 15	Forrest Austin / Jim Beasley 14	Jim Titcomb 3.71
Troy Trojans	Charlie Hilcher/ Happy Campbell / Gene Babbitt	Brick Owens .345	Gil Leatherwood 14	Hal Fehrenbacher 81	Gene Babbitt / Tom Adams 17	Alvin Himsel 17	Tom Head 2.83
Union Springs Springers	Fred Lucas	Steve Summerhill .362	George Walton 13	Steve Summerhill 108	Ken Helmick 16	Ken Helmick 15	Dick Baird 2.47

Team Offense	G	AB	R	H	2	3	HR	TB	AVG	SH	BB	RBI	SB	K
Dothan	130	4528	798	1240	181	80	52	1737	.274	62	666	701	124	625
Union Springs	130	4503	712	1224	223	58	49	1710	.272	91	490	603	147	736
Troy	131	4632	764	1241	187	44	61	1699	.268	76	516	617	144	677
Andalusia	131	4482	677	1191	196	40	53	1626	.266	75	588	562	211	642
Evergreen	131	4475	671	1162	215	63	49	1650	.260	66	449	576	92	821
Panama City	131	4565	706	1181	210	51	32	1589	.259	78	578	589	131	660

1938 Hitting Leaders	Name	Team
Runs Scored	Bill Hodgins	Troy	112
Hits	Steve Summerhill	Union Springs	187
Doubles	Mel Serafine	Union Springs	37
Triples	John Spurlock	Evergreen	13
Home Runs	Gil Leatherwood	Troy	14
Sacrifices	Russell Stewart	Panama City	15
Bases On Balls	Jim Miller	Union Springs	90
RBIs	Steve Summerhill	Union Springs	108
Stolen Bases	Brick Owens	Troy	47
Strikeouts	Dan Snell Jim Miller Leonard Belin	Troy Union Springs Panama City	92
Batting Average	Steve Summerhill	Union Springs	.362

1938 Pitching Leaders	Name	Team
Games	Joe Beaugez	Dothan	40
Innings	Lee Anthony	Evergreen	295
Wins	Virgil Trucks	Andalusia	25
Loses	Alvin Hinsel	Troy	17
Win Percentage	Virgil Trucks	Andalusia	.806
Strikeouts	Virgil Trucks	Andalusia	418
ERA	Virgil Trucks	Andalusia	1.25
Runs	Francis Manheim	Andalusia	173
Earned Runs	Francis Manheim	Andalusia	132
Bases On Balls	Francis Manheim	Andalusia	176
Hits	Adrian Zabala	Panama City	280
Hit Batsmen	Joe Thorne	Union Springs	19
Wild Pitches	Francis Manheim	Andalusia	19