'Mr. Baseball' Bob Uecker, Brewers
announcer, dies at 90
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 [January 17, 2025]
By STEVE MEGARGEE
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bob Uecker, who parlayed a forgettable playing
career into a punch line for movie and TV appearances as “Mr.
Baseball” and a Hall of Fame broadcasting tenure, has died. He was
90.
The Milwaukee Brewers, whose games Uecker had broadcast for over
half a century, announced his death Thursday morning while calling
it “one of the most difficult days in Milwaukee Brewers history.” In
a statement released by the club, Uecker’s family said he had
battled small cell lung cancer since early 2023.
“Bob was the genuine item: always the funniest person in any room he
was in, and always an outstanding ambassador for our national
pastime,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “We
are grateful for this baseball life like no other, and we will never
forget him.”
Uecker was best known as a colorful comedian and broadcaster whose
sense of humor and self-deprecating style earned him fame and
affection beyond his .200 batting average.
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Uecker was a beloved member of the
community and a pillar of the sport. He broadcast Brewers games for
the last 54 seasons.
“George Steinbrenner tried to hire him, I think more than once,”
Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said of the longtime New York
Yankees owner. “He could have left for an acting career. He could
have left for a comedy career. … He was a Wisconsin guy. He was true
blue to Wisconsin.”
As news of Uecker's death spread, numerous fans converged at his
statue outside American Family Field. They paid their respects by
leaving flowers, Brewers caps and even cans of the Miller Lite beer
he endorsed at the base of the statue.
“He’s the narrator to all the best times of a couple of generations’
lives," said Shawn Bosman of Franklin, Wisconsin, who visited the
statue with his mother.
Kairee Larson, a longtime Brewers season-ticket holder who lives
just down the road from the stadium, said after leaving flowers by
the statue that Uecker's call of Ryan Braun's homer in a 2008
playoff-clinching victory over the Chicago Cubs remains her ringtone
to this day.
“One of the things I thought today was my baby that’s due any day is
not going to hear that iconic voice,” Larson said.
Uecker signed his first professional contract with the Milwaukee
Braves in 1956 and reached the majors in 1962. He’d last six seasons
in the big leagues as a backup catcher, finishing with a .200
average and 14 homers.
He won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 1964 and also played
for Atlanta and Philadelphia.
“Career highlights? I had two,” Uecker often joked. “I got an
intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown
against the Mets.”
Uecker also befriended former Brewers owner and baseball
Commissioner Bud Selig, who initially hired him as a scout. Selig
liked to joke about how Uecker’s initial scouting report was stained
with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Selig eventually brought Uecker to the broadcast booth. Uecker
became the voice of the Brewers in 1971, in the second year after
the team moved from Seattle.
“Bob had the easiest way of making others feel at ease, share a
laugh and always left people feeling a little better,” Selig said in
a statement released by the Brewers. “Nobody was his equal.”
Uecker remained with the club from that point on.
He got his big break off the field after opening for Don Rickles at
Al Hirt’s nightclub in Atlanta in 1969. That performance caught
Hirt’s attention, and the musician set him up to appear on “The
Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. He became one of Carson’s favorite
guests, making more than 100 appearances.
Carson was the one who dubbed Uecker “Mr. Baseball.” And the name
stuck.
Even as his celebrity status grew nationwide, Uecker savored the
opportunity to continue calling games in his hometown.
“To be able to do a game each and every day throughout the summer
and talk to people every day at 6:30 for a night game, you become
part of people’s families,” Uecker once said.
Uecker was honored by the Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award
in 2003 and spent nearly 20 minutes keeping the Cooperstown, New
York, crowd of about 18,000 in stitches.
“I still — and this is not sour grapes by any means — still think I
should have gone in as a player,” he quipped.
Uecker’s comedy was just a part of his abilities. His warm
storytelling and delivery made him a natural to become one of the
first color commentators on network TV broadcasts in the 1970s with
ABC. In the ’90s, he teamed up with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan for
the World Series.
From there, Uecker reached most households as one of the Miller Lite
All-Stars in popular commercials for the beer brand based out of
Milwaukee and Uecker later launched his TV acting career in 1985 on
the ABC sitcom “Mr. Belvedere.”
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Items are left at the base of a statue of Bob Uecker outside
American Family Field in Milwaukee, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP
Photo/Steve Megargee)
Uecker played George Owens during the successful
122-episode run of the series that lasted six years, as the head of
the family and sports writer in a home that brings in a butler who
struggles to adapt to an American household.
In a bit of casting that kept things pretty close to home, Uecker
also played a prominent role in the movies “Major League” (1989) and
“Major League II” (1994) as crass announcer Harry Doyle for a
down-and-out Cleveland Indians franchise that finds a way to become
playoff contenders.
“I’m part of American folklore, I guess,” Uecker told The Associated
Press in 2003. “But I’m not a Hollywood guy. Baseball and
broadcasting are in my blood.”
His wry description of a badly wayward pitch — “Juuuust a bit
outside!” — in the movie is still often-repeated by announcers and
fans at ballparks all over.
Uecker’s acting left some to believe he was more about being funny
than a serious baseball announcer, but his tenure and observations
with the Brewers were spot on, especially when games were tight.
Equally enjoyable were games that weren’t, when Uecker would tell
stories about other major leaguers, his own career and his hobbies
as an avid fisherman and golfer.
“I don’t think anyone wants to hear somebody screwing around when
you got a good game going,” Uecker said. “I think people see ‘Major
League’ and they think Harry Doyle and figure that’s what Bob Uecker
does. I do that sometimes, I do. But when we’ve got a good game
going, I don’t mess around.”
Uecker presided over the stirring ceremony that closed Milwaukee
County Stadium in 2000. When the Brewers’ new stadium opened as
Miller Park in 2001, the team began selling “Uecker seats” high in
the upper deck and obstructed for a $1.
The stadium, now known as American Family Field, has two statues in
Uecker’s honor. There’s one outside the stadium and another in the
back of Section 422, a nod to the Miller Lite commercial in which he
famously said “I must be in the front row!” while getting taken to
one of the worst seats in the ballpark.
Uecker was a regular presence in the Brewers clubhouse throughout
his broadcasting career. Players who were well over a half-century
younger than Uecker loved being around him, whether they were
seeking advice or just wanted to hear his anecdotes.
“Anytime you went to dinner with him or sat down with him for lunch
at the stadium or anything, you never knew what you were going to
hear,” Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich said. “Everybody was well
aware of how special those times were.”
Those times were particularly poignant last year as Uecker continued
broadcasting games while fighting cancer. Yelich said Uecker would
just be “the same old Bob” during his clubhouse visits and
considered the stadium his refuge.
“There were days he’d go have radiation treatment and then come to
the ballpark and broadcast a game,” Attanasio said. “It was
unbelievable.”
When the Brewers clinched the NL Central title, manager Pat Murphy
threw an arm around Uecker in the locker room, pulling him in tight
as players white-knuckled their bottle corks, ready to shower “Mr.
Baseball” in champagne.
“There is no one — there is no one — who epitomizes a champion the
way this man does right here,” Murphy proclaimed as the players
chanted “UUUUUECK.”
After the Brewers were eliminated from the playoffs, Uecker made
sure to visit the locker room and offer support to players in a way
only he could. Yelich said afterward the toughest part of the night
was talking to Uecker because the Brewers knew how badly the
longtime broadcaster wanted to see Milwaukee win a World Series.
“He brought out the best in all of us," Attanasio said. He’s really
the heart of Milwaukee baseball — Mr. Baseball. He’ll forever be in
our hearts.”
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Former AP Sports Writer Colin Fly contributed to this report.
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