Bob Uecker, announcer who was the comic bard of baseball, dies at 90

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Former major league baseball player and legendary sports broadcaster Bob Uecker passed away on January 16th. He was at his home in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, when he was 90 years old.

The Milwaukee Brewers, for whom he had been a long-time radio announcer, announced the news of Mr. Uecker's passing. A statement released by the club noted that Mr. Uecker had been battling small cell lung cancer since the beginning of 2023.

Before he was famous for two phrases that people still quote today - "I must be in the front row!" from a Miller Lite commercial and "Just a bit outside" from the movie "Major League" - Bob Uecker pitched in the major leagues for six years, mostly as a backup catcher and the team's resident jokester among his teammates. He is often regarded as the ultimate baseball comedian.

Referring to his low career batting average of point two oh zero, Mr. Uecker said he was so bad at the plate that his manager would "send me up there without a bat and tell me to try for a walk."

In a best-selling 1982 autobiography, "Catcher in the Rye", (co-written with Mickey Herskowitz), Mr. Uecker explained the secret of his success as follows: "Anyone with talent can play in the major leagues. But to be able to consistently fool people, as I did, year after year, I think that's an even more impressive feat."

He played baseball for the Milwaukee Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Atlanta Braves. He never played in more than 80 games in a season, but he did share a moment of triumph as a member of the 1964 World Series-winning Cardinals.

“He don't know this, but I helped the Cardinals win the pennant,” he later said. “I had come down with hepatitis. The trainer gave me the shot.”

In reality, Mr. Uecker was considered a valued baseman of the clubhouse, with his carefree banter and his humorous running commentary in the bullpen. Before the opening game of the 1964 World Series, he picked up a sousaphone left on the field by a musician and used it to catch flyballs.

If he was the epitome of mediocrity in the major leagues, he unexpectedly had success against one of the best pitchers in the game, Sandy Koufax, by hitting a home run off the Hall of Fame left-handed pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. (This was one of the 14 home runs he hit in the majors.)

In that year, Mr. Uecker led the National League in passed balls – "and I did that without playing every game," he said with pride.

He explained how to catch the unpredictable and fluttering knuckleball by saying, "Wait until it stops moving and then grab it."

In reality, Niekro gave credit for his Hall of Fame success to his catcher, noting in his autobiography that Mr. Uecker "put in my mind the idea that I shouldn't be afraid to throw the knuckleball. What happened to it after it left my hand wasn't my problem, but his."

dubbing him “Mr. Baseball.”

Back in the major leagues

In 1970, Milwaukee received a new baseball team, the Brewers, after a new expansion team was brought to the city from Seattle. The team's owner, businessman Bud Selig, chose Mr. Uecker to be a talent scout.

“Worst scout I ever had,” Selig, who later became the commissioner of baseball, told the New York Times in 2010. When Mr. Uecker turned in a scouting report on a potential player, it “was covered in gravy and mashed potatoes.”

In 1971, Uecker became the team's radio analyst, and the following season, he started calling Brewers games during the play-by-play. He continued to be the voice of the Brewers for over five decades, and often warmed up the players by throwing batting practice on game days for many years of his tenure.

In the broadcast booth, he relied on his in-depth knowledge of the sport as he described the action on the field. He had a clear, recognizable voice and developed a distinctive call that became famous when a player hit a home run: "Get up! Get up! Get outta here! Gone!" He rarely incorporated humor into his broadcasts, but when the Brewers were in last place, he would make some lighthearted remarks.

Known for his extensive vocabulary and occasionally arrogant demeanor. One time, when Cosell used the word "truculent." he asked Uecker if he knew what it meant..

“Absolutely,” Mr. Uecker responded. “If I had a truck, and you borrowed it, that would be considered a truck you lent.”

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Uecker was one of several retired athletes to appear in Miller Lite commercials. He portrayed the charming loser, unbothered by rejections and put-downs.

You know, one of the greatest perks of being a former major leaguer is getting free tickets to the game," he says in a commercial, pulling a ticket from his pocket. "Just pick up the phone and head back to the field!

A gentleman in a uniform comes up and says, "Excuse me, I think you're in the wrong seat, would you like to move over?"

I really need to be in the very first row!

In the commercial's final scene, he's sitting all alone at the top of the stadium, still full of energy as he says to nobody, "Good seats, huh, pal?"

Commercials led to a career in acting, including an appearance as the guest host of "Saturday Night Live." From 1985 to 1990, Mr. Uecker starred in the ABC sitcom "Mr. Belvedere" as a sportswriter who hires a prim English butler to manage his household.

“Ju-u-u-u-st a bit outside.”

The film turned into a cult favorite, and people and fans repeated the line, mocking Mr. Uecker's enthusiastic tone in an imitative way. As part of two "Major League" sequels, he kept announcing the Brewers and helped cover the World Series with Bob Costas for NBC in the 1990s.

Mr Uecker frequently made light of being continually snubbed for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, year after year.

He eventually came to the point where," he said to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "I had to say, 'You know, I really don't need it.' I can bronze my own glove and put it on a nail in my garage.

In 2003, Mr. Uecker gained a permanent spot in Cooperstown when he was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award for his broadcasting work. His speech upon accepting the award was a comical adaptation of his polished comedy routine.

He said that in 1997, 'All the television stuff, the movies, the sitcoms, the commercials, that’s all fun,' adding that his goal was to return to Milwaukee every spring to play baseball.

Two statues in Milwaukee

Robert George Uecker was born on January 26, 1934, in Milwaukee. His dad, who had played soccer in his native Switzerland, worked as an auto mechanic. His mom was a homemaker.

He later joked about his childhood as the child of immigrants, adapting to American customs. When his father bought a football, "we tried to pass it and throw it and kick it," Mr. Uecker said in his Hall of Fame speech, "and we couldn't do it, and it was very discouraging for him and for me. We almost quit. And finally ... a neighbor came over and inflated the ball. And what a difference."

After completing high school, Mr. Uecker joined the Army, playing baseball for teams at bases in Missouri and Northern Virginia. He signed a minor league contract in 1956 with his hometown team, the Milwaukee Braves, which paid him a $3,000 bonus.

and Lou Brock.

In addition to his baseball broadcasting and acting, Mr. Uecker occasionally announced major professional wrestling events and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

He was married to Joyce Jahn, but they eventually divorced. He also divorced Judy Uecker, although they later remained a couple. Two children from his first marriage, Steven Uecker and Leann Uecker Ziemer, passed away in 2012 and 2022. Surviving are two other children from his first marriage, Sue Uecker and Bob Uecker Jr.

Mr. Uecker had a number of health scares over the years, including heart surgery and cancer, and stopped traveling to Brewers road games in his eighties. Yet, he remained vibrant behind the microphone in Milwaukee even past his 90th birthday, announcing the Brewers’ playoff loss in October to the New York Mets, saying, “That one had some sting on it.”

There are two statues of Mr. Uecker at Milwaukee's baseball stadium. One is located right in front of the stadium, placed alongside other statues of famous Hall of Fame players. The other is situated way up in the upper deck, partially blocked by pillars - the "Uecker seats" that are about as far from the front row as possible.

He once said, "Everything I've done, no matter how unusual or uninformed it seems, people seem to like it."