Tiger Virgil Trucks throws the second of his two no-hitters this season

On August 25, 1952 — Tiger Virgil Trucks (5-14) throws the second of his two no-hitters this season, blanking the Yankees, 1-0. Phil Rizzuto’s third inning at-bat is quickly scored as an error but is changed to a hit, only to be reversed again in the sixth inning, making the no-hitter a bit controversial. Incredibly, Trucks will finish the season with only five wins and 19 loses.

No one since then has pitched a complete-game no-hitter against the Yankees in New York.

Trucks’s feat, however, perhaps holds the record for anomalies. The score of both his no-hitters was 1-0, and the first was won with a home run by Vic Wertz with two out in the bottom of the ninth. The second no-hitter was secured after the official scorer, John Drebinger of The New York Times, first ruled that a ball hit by the Yankees’ Phil Rizzuto in the third inning was an error by Tigers shortstop Johnny Pesky.

Drebinger’s colleagues in the press box argued with him, and he changed his mind, calling it an infield single. But still uncertain later in the game, Drebinger called Pesky in the Tigers’ dugout, and he acknowledged that he had been unable to grip the ball cleanly. Before the seventh inning, the call was changed back to an error, and the no-hitter was restored.

“The thing that really bothered me about that play, is that Rizzuto was really out at first,” Trucks says. “We were all arguing with the first base umpire, and I nearly got tossed from the game,” Trucks said.

In the bottom of the ninth, after Mickey Mantle struck out, and Johnny Groth made an outstanding catch in center, Trucks secured his second 1-0 no hitter when Hank Bauer hit a one hop bullet to second baseman Al Federoff who easily threw Bauer out.

Read more about Trucks.

 
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