Alan Wirth

Alan Lee Wirth (born December 8, 1956) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Wirth pitched in parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball, from 1978 until 1980, for the Oakland Athletics.

Playing career

Wirth was originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 3rd round of the 1974 Major League Baseball Draft. After four seasons in their organization, Wirth was part of one of the most famous trades of 1978, when the Giants traded seven players—Wirth, Gary Alexander, Gary Thomasson, Dave Heaverlo, John Henry Johnson, Phil Huffman, Mario Guerrero—and $300,000 to the A's for pitcher Vida Blue.

Wirth started the 1978 season with Oakland, but was sent to the minors in June. He also split the next two seasons between the major league A's and their minor league Ogden A's farm team. In all, Wirth pitched in 23 games over three seasons for Oakland before being released during spring training in 1981. He was signed by the Seattle Mariners, and spent the 1981 season with their top farm team, the Spokane Indians. After spending the 1982 season in the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers organizations, he retired.

Personal life

Wirth's daughter Christina was an All-American basketball player for the Vanderbilt Commodores, and later played one season for the Indiana Fever. His daughter Alana played basketball at Barry University, and a third daughter, Theresa, currently plays for Seton Catholic Preparatory High School, at which both her sisters also played.^[1] His son, Joe, played high school soccer for Mountain View and now plays for Scottsdale Community College.

Notes

Sources

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube, or Retrosheet, or Baseball Reference (Minor and Mexican leagues), or Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)