Bob Uecker, the Corridor of Fame baseball broadcaster with a fast wit and an never-ending love of the sport, died Thursday. He was 90.
Uecker had been battling small cell lung most cancers since 2023, his household instructed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Although Uecker’s day job was as a radio play-by-play man for the Milwaukee Brewers, he turned identified nationwide for his comedic chops, first as a many-time visitor on “The Tonight Show” and later within the “Major League” film trilogy.
“Saying goodbye to Bob shakes us all. He was so much more than a Milwaukee Brewers icon. He was a national treasure,” the group mentioned in a press release. “We are left with a giant void in our hearts, but also remember the laughter and joy he brought to our lives throughout the years.”
Bob Uecker waves to the followers as he walks out to mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch previous to the Milwaukee Brewers enjoying towards the Philadelphia Phillies in Recreation three of the NLDS through the 2008 MLB playoffs at Miller Park on October 4, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Picture by Ben Smidt/Pool-Getty Pictures)
Uecker was honored with the Baseball Corridor of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award in 2003, and he has been inducted into quite a few broadcasting halls of fame.
He was additionally a significant league participant, although he wouldn’t have made the Corridor of Fame for his exploits on the sector. From 1962 to 1967, Uecker performed catcher for the Milwaukee Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. A profession .200 hitter, Uecker’s crowning achievement was successful the World Sequence with the Cardinals in 1964.
“I make fun of everything I did because it makes people laugh. But it’s still a pretty good thing to be a big leaguer,” Uecker as soon as mentioned. “I was still in a World Series. When I got on the field, there was no messing around. I played hard.”
Bob Uecker with the Milwaukee Braves in 1962. (Bettmann by way of Getty Pictures)
Born Jan. 26, 1934, in Milwaukee, Uecker grew up on baseball. He lived inside strolling distance of the house park of the Milwaukee Brewers, a minor league outfit on the time, and attended many video games along with his household and associates.
“I mean, we were up there all the time,” Uecker instructed MLB.com in 2015. “After the fifth inning, they’d let you in for nothing. Or we would just climb over the fence.”
Uecker was additionally an excellent participant himself, and the Braves — who arrived from Boston in 1953 — signed Uecker in 1956. He was a good energy hitter within the minor leagues, however his expertise didn’t fairly translate on the main league degree. Nonetheless, he developed a repute as a stable defensive catcher.
It was Uecker’s off-the-field profession that made him a family title. After a short and unfruitful stint as a scout for the most important league Milwaukee Brewers within the early Nineteen Seventies, Uecker moved to the radio sales space.
Bob Uecker, catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, in 1965. (Bettmann by way of Getty Pictures)
Within the press field, his wit and comedic chops turned world-renowned. Brewers followers have been identified to tune in particularly when a sport received out of hand, simply so they might hear no matter zany tales Uecker would inform throughout a blowout.
Uecker’s expertise drew the eye of Johnny Carson, who invited him onto “The Tonight Show” as “Mr. Baseball” greater than 100 occasions.
“In many ways, I think he’s the funniest man I ever met,” Carson as soon as mentioned of Uecker.
Uecker additionally starred in a preferred sequence of Miller Lite commercials, the ABC sitcom “Mr. Belvedere” and the “Major League” movies, the place he performed a ingesting radio announcer.
Maybe the best-known second from his showbiz profession is likely one of the commercials, the place an usher informs Uecker that he’s within the unsuitable seat.
Bob Uecker, broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers, sings “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” through the seventh inning stretch of a sport between the Brewers and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Subject on June 14, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. (Picture by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Pictures)
“I must be in the front row,” he says confidently. Just a few seconds later, Uecker is proven in one of many final rows within the higher deck — the place a statue of him now sits on the Brewers’ dwelling park.
Uecker continued calling baseball video games by the 2024 season. He was even on the decision for the Brewers’ soul-crushing loss to the New York Mets within the first spherical of the playoffs, remarking as he signed off: “I’m telling you, that one had some sting to it.”
Even along with his giant persona in a sport the place straight-laced habits is usually prized, Uecker was beloved by Brewers gamers as a lot as followers. When the group made the postseason in 2018, the gamers voted for Uecker to earn a full playoff cost, price almost $123,000. They repeated the custom in each successive playoff run; Uecker donated the cash to charity.
Milwaukee Brewers sportscaster Bob Uecker speaks at a information convention Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Picture/Charlie Riedel)
“The connection that he creates with players, the camaraderie that he brings to the clubhouse…He was always accepted as one of us,” Brewers Corridor of Famer Robin Yount as soon as mentioned.
“It’s special every time he’s around,” present Brewers star Christian Yelich mentioned after the 2024 season. “You shouldn’t take it for granted.”
Initially Revealed: January 16, 2025 at 12:39 PM EST
