Auker recalls Babe’s personality, not stats

DETROIT – Seventy-one years ago, Elden Auker made baseball history and never had a clue.

He was a 24-year-old pitcher in his second season with the Detroit Tigers, and the dreaded New York Yankees were in town.

In the fourth inning of a game on July 14, 1934, Auker tried to come inside on the fists of George Herman Ruth and failed. Ruth turned on the ball and ripped it for the 701st home run of his career.

Auker, now 94, is the last man alive who knows what it was like to pitch to Babe Ruth in the major leagues.

He remembers things no one else can possibly remember. And one thing he remembers is that once upon a time – long, long before Barry Bonds and high-definition TV – nobody in baseball made a big deal about 701 home runs.

“We didn’t pay too much attention to statistics,” Auker said last Wednesday, 71 years to the day after teammate Tommy Bridges gave up Ruth’s 700th home run. “We didn’t even know how many home runs he had until we read about it in the papers a while later.”

Like Bonds, who has 703 home runs, Ruth was in the waning days of his career when he passed the 700 mark. Unlike Bonds, though, the Babe came across as a fun-loving character even to many players on opposing teams.

“He was a great guy,” Auker said from Vero Beach, Fla., where he has lived since 1974. “He was a big kid. We’d have a beer together and talk and laugh a lot.”

Auker said he and Ruth were part of a group of big league players that included Bridges, Mickey Cochrane and Dizzy Dean who lived in Florida during the off-season and organized regular round-robin golf competitions for years during the 1930s.

“(Ruth) played in the middle 80s,” Auker said. “Funny thing, but he couldn’t hit the ball off the tee. I was outdriving him by 40 or 50 yards.

“He was right down the middle, though. Short, but accurate.”

Although he’s had four pacemakers since 1980, he remains healthy – and is amazed that many of today’s athletes have trouble staying that way.

“My observation is that these fellows aren’t in condition, I mean baseball condition,” Auker said. “That’s why you have all these hamstrings and arm problems.

“I go out here with the Dodgers in spring training and watch them, and I’ve never seen a pitcher or a ballplayer in the outfield sprinting. You can’t get in condition going out there and trotting around the outfield. You have to have sprinting. Your arm is only as strong as your legs.”

Auker stayed healthy enough during his 10-year career to go 130-101 with 126 complete games. He said starting pitchers should have to go at least seven innings to get credit for a win. “Today a starter goes out there and they talk about pitching deep into the fifth inning,” he says.

Still, Auker concedes that today’s pitchers are in a hole every time they step on the mound.

“The plate belongs to the hitters today,” he said. “When we had a guy who was going good, we used to say: ‘Let’s see how he can hit lying down.’ You know, knock him down.

“You can’t do that today. These guys today, they’ve got headgear, elbow pads, hand guards, shin guards. Heck, you don’t know if they’ve got armor-proof underwear. It’s an offensive game today.”

And the biggest offensive weapon of all is Bonds, who has yet to play this season but could be back as early as next month.

Auker is awed by Bonds the baseball player, but unimpressed by what he sees of Bonds the man.

“He’s a great player, no doubt about it. He can hit the ball a ton,” Auker said. “But he is an arrogant individual. Everyone can’t be modest like you and me. But then, I don’t know what I’d do if I was in his place.”

Auker isn’t sure, either, what he’d do if he had to pitch to Bonds.

“I’d pitch very carefully,” he said with a laugh.

Auker said he’s convinced Bonds will come back and pass Ruth’s 714 home runs, then go on to break Hank Aaron’s record of 755. And he’ll be glad to see it.

“That’s what records are for, to be broken,” he said. “If it isn’t Bonds, somebody is going to come along and break the record later.”