Elden Auker, Tigers star who struck out Babe Ruth; at 95

Elden Auker, the submarine-style pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth, faced Dizzy Dean and helped the Detroit Tigers win their first World Series championship, died yesterday . He was 95.

Mr. Auker died in Vero Beach, Fla., where he had lived since 1974.

An occasional visitor at old-timers' events and a regular on the golf course until recent years, Mr. Auker used his unique delivery to go 130-101 for the Tigers, Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns from 1933 to 1942 .

``He threw it from about as low as you could go without untying your shoes," Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller said by telephone yesterday . ``Any lower and you'd scrape your knuckles on the pitching rubber."

Feller, in fact, hit his first major league home run off Mr. Auker, in 1940 at the first night game played in St. Louis.

``He found my bat, somehow," Feller said.

Yet as a rookie, Mr. Auker fanned Ruth on four pitches with his unorthodox motion. Mr. Auker recalled how one of the New York Yankees' bench jockeys heckled him, shouting, ``You got the Bam real upset."

Ruth was not the only big hitter who got bamboozled by Mr. Auker's right-handed, drop-down pitches. During the 38th game of his 56-game hitting streak in 1941, Joe DiMaggio grounded a hard double off Mr. Auker in his final at-bat to extend the string.

``I used to have pretty good success against him. He used to tell me that he had trouble picking up the ball the way I threw it underhanded," Mr. Auker remembered, the day after DiMaggio died.

``A few years later, he signed a picture to me," he said. ``He wrote, `To my friend Elden. A tough submarine to sink."

Mr. Auker developed his unique style after getting hurt as a quarterback at Kansas State, where Grantland Rice picked him as a second team All-American. Mr. Auker had a chance to play pro football for the Chicago Bears, but chose baseball and enjoyed early success.

In 1934, Mr. Auker went 15-7 as the Tigers took the AL pennant. He pitched a complete game and beat St. Louis 10-4 in Game 4 of the World Series, but lost to Dean and Cardinals 11-0 in Game 7.

The next year, Mr. Auker went 18-7 and led the league in winning percentage as Detroit again reached the 1935 World Series. Mr. Auker got a no-decision in Game 3, and the Tigers went on to win their first title in six games.

After the 1938 season, the Detroit Tigers traded Mr. Auker along with Chet Morgan and Jake Wade to the Red Sox for slugger Pinky Higgins and pitcher Archie McKain. He only pitched one season for the Sox, going 9-10, before being shipped to the St. Louis Browns. But in that season, he made a lifelong friend in Ted Williams, then playing his rookie season.

Mr. Auker was one of the last teammates to talk with the Splendid Splinter, calling him the Sunday before his death in 2002.

``When I talked to him," Mr. Auker told the Globe, ``the nurse had to hold the telephone receiver to his ear. He always called my wife `Mildred, the queen.' The last thing he said to me was, `How's the queen? Give her my love.' Then the nurse came on and said he had fallen asleep."

Mr. Auker kept his connection with Detroit over the years. He was at Tiger Stadium for the ballpark's closing ceremonies at its final game in 1999.

A nine-letter athlete at Kansas State and a member of its Hall of Fame, Mr. Auker considered a career in medicine before becoming a ballplayer. After retiring, Mr. Auker became a successful businessman in the abrasives field. He later moved to Vero Beach, and his home was wrecked by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

``He was a real solid citizen, on and off the field," Feller said. ``You wouldn't find a person who would have a bad thing to say about Elden."

Mr. Auker leaves his wife of 73 years, Mildred, and a son, Jim.

The Strunk Funeral Home in Vero Beach was handling the arrangements, and services were pending.