Elden Auker

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Elden Le Roy Auker (September 21, 1910 – August 4, 2006) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball noted for his submarine pitching style.

Auker was born and raised in Norcatur, Kansas. He attended college at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, where he was a brother of Phi Sigma Kappa. A nine-letter athlete at Kansas State and a member of its Hall of Fame, Auker was first-team All-American in baseball and All-Big Six Conference in baseball, football, and basketball. In football, Auker starred at quarterback, was named second team All-American by Grantland Rice, and was offered a $6,000 contract by the Chicago Bears. The Bears sent Bronko Nagurski to Manhattan to try to convince him to join the team. Auker turned down the Bears, however, to pitch for the Detroit Tigers.

During his ten-year major league career, Auker played with the Tigers, Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns. While with Detroit, Auker went to two consecutive World Series, in 1934 and 1935. In the 1934 Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Auker was the winning pitcher in Game 4, but the loser to Dizzy Dean in the decisive Game 7. The next season, Auker led the American League in winning percentage with an 18-7 record. In the 1935 Series against the Chicago Cubs, Auker started Game 3, which Detroit won in extra innings, and the Tigers went on to win the Series 4 games to 2.

Before the 1939 season, Auker was traded by Detroit to the Red Sox for Pinky Higgins and Archie McKain. That season was Ted Williams's rookie year in Boston, and the two would develop what became a life-long friendship during the season. However, Auker chafed playing under Red Sox manager Joe Cronin, and his 9-10 record in the year was the lowest win total of any full season he played. Auker finished his career playing three seasons with the Browns (1940-42). During the 1941 season, he gave up hits to Joe DiMaggio during two games of DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak.

Auker retired in 1943 so that he could contribute to the war effort. He was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1969. In 2001 Auker wrote his memoirs, entitled Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms with Tom Keegan. He died at age 95 in Vero Beach, Florida [1].

Career statistics

W	L	WP	GP	GS	CG	Sh	SV	IP	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
130	101	.563	333	261	126	14	2	1,963.1	706	594	4.42	1.495

Other submarine pitchers

[edit] Bibliography

Elden Auker with Tom Keegan, Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms: A Lifetime of Memories from Striking Out the Babe to Teeing it up With the President (ISBN 1-892049-25-2, 2001)