Elden Auker

From BR Bullpen

Elden Le Roy Auker (Submarine or Big Six)

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 2", Weight 194 lb.
School Kansas State University
Debut August 10, 1933
Final Game September 20, 1942
Born September 21, 1910 in Norcatur, KS USA
Died August 4, 2006 in Vero Beach, FL USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Elden Auker was a major league pitcher from 1933 to 1942. After a football injury while playing at Kansas State University, Auker developed his signature sidearm pitching motion. He used the whiplike motion to strike out Babe Ruth when he was a rookie in 1933. Yet he never was much of a strikeout pitcher, obtaining a career-high of 86 in 1934.

Auker turned in a solid career for three clubs. He had double digits in wins in eight of his ten seasons. In 1935, he led the league in winning percentage. Auker also pitched in both the 1934 and 1935 World Series for the Detroit Tigers.

He quit baseball to run his engineering firm, which produced abrasives critical to the War effort. Later in his life, he was prominently featured in the HBO documentary When It Was a Game

When he died in 2006, Auker was the last living pitcher to have faced Babe Ruth. He was married for 73 years to his wife, Mildred.

His memoirs are called "Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms." Auker says that after he retired, he would play golf in Florida with Babe Ruth and some of the other retired players.