Bob Uecker, the voice of his hometown Milwaukee Brewers who after a brief enjoying profession earned the moniker “Mr. Baseball” and honors from the Corridor of Fame, has died, the baseball commissioner’s workplace confirmed to CBS News. He was 90.
The Brewers introduced Uecker died Thursday morning, calling it “some of the troublesome days in Milwaukee Brewers historical past.” In a press release launched by the membership, Uecker’s household stated he had battled small cell lung most cancers since early 2023.
“Even within the face of this problem, his enthusiasm for all times was at all times current, by no means permitting his spirit to falter,” the household stated.
Uecker was greatest often known as a colourful comic and broadcaster who earned his nickname throughout one among his quite a few appearances on Johnny Carson’s late night time present.
Jeffrey Phelps/MLB Images through Getty Pictures
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Uecker signed his first skilled contract with the Milwaukee Braves in 1956 and reached the majors in 1962. He’d final six seasons within the large leagues as a backup catcher, ending with a .200 common and 14 homers.
He gained a World Collection ring with St. Louis in 1964 and likewise performed for Atlanta and Philadelphia.
“Profession highlights? I had two,” he typically joked. “I obtained an intentional stroll from Sandy Koufax and I obtained out of a rundown towards the Mets.”
Uecker additionally befriended former Brewers proprietor and MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who initially employed him as a scout. Selig appreciated to joke about how Uecker’s preliminary scouting report was stained with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Selig finally introduced Uecker to the published sales space. Uecker turned the voice of the Brewers in 1971, within the second yr after the crew moved from Seattle.
Uecker remained with the membership from that time on and have become one of many Brewers’ most indelible figures. Brewers supervisor Craig Counsell grew up within the Milwaukee space and remembered spending summer season days throwing a baseball towards the roof and catching it whereas listening to Uecker’s broadcasts.
“There isn’t any single particular person on this franchise’s historical past who has been as iconic and as essential as Bob Uecker,” stated Jeff Levering, a member of the Brewers’ broadcast crew since 2015.
Whilst his superstar standing grew nationwide, Uecker savored the chance to proceed calling video games to followers in his hometown.
“To have the ability to do a recreation each day all through the summer season and discuss to individuals on daily basis at 6:30 for an evening recreation, you change into a part of individuals’s households,” Uecker as soon as stated. “I do know that as a result of I get mail from those who inform me that. That is a part of the reward for being right here, simply to be acknowledged by the best way you discuss, the best way you describe a recreation, no matter.”
Uecker was honored by the Corridor of Fame with the Ford C. Frick award in 2003 and spent practically 20 minutes preserving the Cooperstown, New York, crowd of about 18,000 in stitches.
“I nonetheless — and this isn’t bitter grapes by any means — nonetheless assume I ought to have gone in as a participant,” he quipped.
“Ueck” obtained his large break off the sector after opening for Don Rickles at Al Hirt’s nightclub in Atlanta in 1969. That efficiency caught Hirt’s consideration, and the musician set him as much as seem on “The Tonight Present” with Johnny Carson. He turned one among Carson’s favourite visitors, making greater than 100 appearances.
Carson was the one who dubbed Uecker “Mr. Baseball.” And the title caught.
However Uecker’s comedy was simply part of his talents. His heat storytelling and supply made Uecker a pure to change into one of many first shade commentators on community TV broadcasts within the Nineteen Seventies with ABC. Within the ’90s, he teamed up with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan for the World Collection.
From there, Uecker reached most households as one of many Miller Lite All-Stars in fashionable commercials for the beer model primarily based out of Milwaukee and Uecker later launched his TV performing profession in 1985 on the ABC sitcom “Mr. Belvedere.”
Uecker performed George Owens through the profitable 122-episode run of the sequence that lasted six years, as the top of the household and sports activities author in a house that brings in a butler who struggles to adapt to an American family.
In a little bit of casting that stored issues fairly near house, Uecker additionally performed a distinguished position within the films Main League (1989) and Main League II (1994) as crass announcer Harry Doyle for a down-and-out Cleveland Indians franchise that finds a solution to change into playoff contenders.
“I am a part of American folklore, I suppose,” Uecker informed The Related Press in 2003. “However I am not a Hollywood man. Baseball and broadcasting are in my blood.”
His wry description of a badly wayward pitch — “Juuuust a bit exterior!” — within the film remains to be often-repeated by announcers and followers at ballparks throughout.