Submarine-style pitcher Elden Auker applied his signature and inscription to this 1940 Play Ball card in blue ink, the signature rating a MINT 9 assessment from PSA/DNA.  A multi-sport collegiate athlete, he was first team All-American in baseball, All-Big Six conference in baseball, football, and basketball, and a second-team All-American quarterback that was offered a $6,000 contract to play for the Chicago bears.  Auker retired in 1943 to help with the American war effort, and worked with a company that made armaments and abrasive materials until 1975, retiring as company president.  He lived to the ripe old age of 95, the last surviving member of the 1935 World Champion Detroit Tigers. The card originates from the Shibe Park collection of autographed cards, an original owner collection carefully collected by a teenage boy who, in 1939 and 1940, obtained many autographs from players arriving at the train station near Shibe Park, and continued for many years to obtain signatures in person and through the mail.