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FPG-Getty Images, 1935
Elden Auker never threw more
than 263 2/3 innings, but he
completed 126 of his 261 major
league starts.
FRANK NAVIN taught Elden Auker a
simple lesson when Auker was a 22-
year-old rookie with the Detroit Tigers.
Navin was the Tigers' owner, and when Auker was promoted to the big-league team in 1933, Auker said the owner told him:
"Elden, we're bringing you up here as a starting pitcher. We think you have an opportunity to be a major league pitcher. I don't have a lot of money. My philosophy for starting pitchers is when they give you the ball, I expect you to pitch nine innings. I can't afford to pay you to start a ballgame and pay three or four others to finish it."
Auker, at 95 one of the oldest living former major leaguers, related the story the other day to make a point during a telephone discussion of pitching practices then and now. He says he doesn't care for current practices and believes they are responsible for the increase in the number of sore arms.
Pitchers, Auker said, don't throw enough and they don't run enough. Throwing often, he asserted, strengthens arms, and running strengthens legs, which are a key to pitching.
"Elden, we're bringing you up here as a starting pitcher. We think you have an opportunity to be a major league pitcher. I don't have a lot of money. My philosophy for starting pitchers is when they give you the ball, I expect you to pitch nine innings. I can't afford to pay you to start a ballgame and pay three or four others to finish it."
Auker, at 95 one of the oldest living former major leaguers, related the story the other day to make a point during a telephone discussion of pitching practices then and now. He says he doesn't care for current practices and believes they are responsible for the increase in the number of sore arms.
Pitchers, Auker said, don't throw enough and they don't run enough. Throwing often, he asserted, strengthens arms, and running strengthens legs, which are a key to pitching.
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