Elmer Singleton

Bert Elmer Singleton
(Smoky)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 174 lb.
• High School Weber County High School
• Debut August 20, 1945
• Final Game August 1, 1959
• Born June 26, 1918 in Ogden, UT USA
• Died January 5, 1996 in Ogden, UT USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Right-hander Elmer Singleton was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Yankees before the 1940 season and very doubtfully had any idea of what the next 24 years had in store for his pitching arm. Elmer's first stop was with the Wenatchee Chiefs of the Western International League where the 22-year-old went 5-10 while pitching 165 innings in his first season in pro baseball. Elmer spent the next five years (1941-1945) before he had a winning season, going 7-6 for the Kansas City Blues of the American Association with a 2.43 ERA. This effort got Elmer traded to the Boston Braves on August 9, 1945, where he finished out the season with the major league team, going 1-4 with a 4.82 ERA in five starts.

Singleton was with the Braves in 1946, going 0-1 in 15 appearances with a 3.74 ERA, and spent the rest of the season with the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association, where he went 1-2 in 6 outings. He was involved in a six-player trade on September 30th that sent him to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He hung out with the Pittsburgh club in 1947 and 1948, winning 6 and losing 8, before being sold to the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League on March 28, 1949. There he went 8-14 in 1949 and 5-10 in 1950 before the Seals traded him to the Washington Senators on June 25th, in return for Steve Nagy.

Elmer finished 1950 with the Senators, going 1-2 in 21 appearances and on October 11th the Senators sold him to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League. He played for four different teams until 1955. He wound up with the Seattle Rainiers that year and had his best season to date, going 19-12 with a 2.20 ERA while pitching 249 innings and helping his team to the PCL pennant. With Seattle again in 1956 he got better, winning 18 times but losing only 8 with a league-leading 2.55 ERA in 226 innings, plus making the PCL All-Star team.

This put Elmer on the free market again and this time on October 14, 1956, he was purchased by the Cincinnati Redlegs who in turn, one month later, traded him along with Ray Jablonski to the Chicago Cubs for Warren Hacker, Don Hoak and Pete Whisenant. Singleton was with the Cubs the last three years (1957-1959) of his eight-year major league career, closing out with an 11-17 record with a 4.83 ERA while appearing in 145 games. The much-traveled righthander wasn't quite ready to quit just yet and went back to the Pacific Coast League where he spent the next four seasons with Spokane, Sacramento, Vancouver and finished out with Seattle in 1963 at 45 years of age. His minor league stats show 184 wins with 186 losses with a 3.50 ERA while pitching 3,151 innings.

Singleton accomplished the feat of pitching for most of three different decades, the 1940s, 1950s and the 1960s, 24 seasons in all. That shows a great love for the game. After baseball he became an automobile salesman in Seattle, WA, he then retired to his birthplace of Ogden, UT, where he died on January 5, 1996, at age 77.

Sources

Baseball Players of the 1950s

Related Sites

• Elmer Singleton at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Minors page