A visit to “Mr. Baseball” Bob Uecker

Ever since Babe Ruth waddled around the bases, there have been dire predictions about the future of baseball: Time has passed for the national pastime, too leisurely, too idyllic. Last year's World Series TV ratings and this season's batting averages both reached their lowest levels in 50 years. Baseball, they say, is dying.

But that's without even mentioning the current World Series between two of the game's greats, the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Want to feel better about baseball health? Just go to a Milwaukee Brewers game.

There, in Major League Baseball's smallest market, cheese curds sweat under floodlights, frozen pudding dissolves into batting helmets, traffic flows generously in Miller's hometown, and on the stadium's second level is the most authentic Milwaukee touch of all: the broadcaster she “Mr. “Baseball”

In six unremarkable seasons as a catcher in the majors, Bob Uecker never pitched an inning for the Brewers. But during a half-century as the team's play-by-play announcer, he has become equal parts mayor and mascot in his native city, while simultaneously turning down offers from larger markets – sacking playing fields, so to speak.

In the 1980s, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner tried to recruit Uecker. “Steinbrenner sent a few people to talk to me about joining the Yankees,” he said, “but I loved Milwaukee. Born and raised here!”

Uecker began his major league career with the Milwaukee Braves in 1962 before the franchise moved to Atlanta. “I was the first player from Milwaukee ever signed by the Braves,” he said. “I was also the first Milwaukee native sent to the minor leagues by the Braves!”

Although Uecker's on-field inadequacies hindered his playing career, they provided some of his best material in a long and lucrative second career as an actor and comedian. With his bone-dry wit, he made more than 40 appearances on Johnny Carson's “Tonight Show.”

He said: “I did 'Tonight Shows,' you know, whenever they wanted. I left here on a Sunday afternoon, flew to LA, did the Monday night show, came back here and was here on the Tuesday game.”

Johnny Carson: “Give me every team you’ve ever played with as quickly as you can.”
Uecker: “Braves, Cardinals, Phillies and the Braves again. Then, in June, I was at…”

Carson's guest appearances led to a number of notable TV commercials as well as a starring role in a sitcom, and perhaps most memorable is the role of Harry Doyle, the perennially acclaimed announcer in the “Major League” films. Last summer, “Harry Doyle Bobblehead Night” at American Family Field in Milwaukee brought the Uecker faithful together in large numbers.

When asked what his favorite line from “Bob Uecker” was, he replied: “Juuuuust something outside.' My wife often took me there!”

Before serving as baseball commissioner for 16 years, Bud Selig owned the Brewers and mistakenly hired Uecker as a scout in 1971. Selig said it was “rightly true” that Uecker was not suited to the scouting profession. “The damn reconnaissance report had mashed potatoes in it. I couldn't read it. He couldn’t read it,” he said.

So Selig moved Uecker to the Brewers' broadcast booth later that year.

Today there is even a statue in honor of Uecker, where else? In the very last row of the upper deck, behind a pole.

But despite all the fame, all the appearances and gags, the nightly laughs at his own expense, Uecker still considers himself a player, says Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff: “He tells us about his catching days. He is one of us.” . He is part of the team. And I think that's why we hug him so much, because he's on the road with us.

According to Uecker, he has a bond with the players on the field: “I played the game. So I know how hard it is. I know how hard it is to play this game. The game celebrations when we win, that's.” A big part of it, man, is being able to go into that clubhouse and be with them.

But baseball is cruel, and in Milwaukee the celebrations are short-lived. Earlier this month, when the Brewers were just two outs away from winning the National League Wild Card Series, the New York Mets fell behind with a dramatic home run.

On the radio, Uecker didn't hide his grief: “I'm telling you, that… had a certain bite.”

The Brewers' first World Series title will have to wait.

There is speculation that the heartbreaking loss may have marked Uecker's final game as an announcer. But as his 91st birthday approaches, the man she calls “Mr. Baseball” that he doesn’t want to imagine his life without baseball.

“I don't know what I would do without more. “If I don’t have baseball for me anymore, I don’t know what that would be like, you know,” Uecker said. “I graduated high school and joined the Army. And I signed a baseball contract. That’s really it!”

For more information:

Bob Uecker, Milwaukee BrewersPhoto courtesy of Scott Paulus/Brewers

The story was produced by Robert Marston. Editor: Lauren Barnello.

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