As legend has it, when Bob Uecker was sent down to the minor leagues in 1961 after breaking camp with the Milwaukee Braves, manager Charlie Dressen told him, “There is no room in baseball for a clown.”
That’s a take that didn’t age very well, I’m afraid.
Bob Uecker has been entertaining audiences in Milwaukee and across the country since 1971. That’s the year he first cracked the mic on a Brewers broadcast, and though his schedule has been cut back a bit, “Ueck” is still in the booth and going strong. Chances are pretty good that if you’re a Brewers fan of any age, Uecker is likely the only announcer you’ve really ever known.
Not bad for a Milwaukee kid, who signed to play for his hometown Braves, only to find a second life in the game as the play-by-play voice of his beloved Brewers. Uecker is a fixture in Milwaukee and a treasured voice throughout the sport. But it isn’t just baseball fans who admire him. The man has appeared in movies, had his own television show, and was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
PLAYING DAYS
Uecker often jokes about his professional baseball career. He signed a contract with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956. He bounced around for six years, playing with affiliates at various levels. In his first year he played in Class C, with the Eau Claire Bears in the Northern League and Boise in the Pioneer League. Between both of the clubs, he hit 19 home runs.
Uecker made his Major League Baseball debut as a catcher with the club in 1962. He wasn’t known for his offense, finishing with a career batting average of .200, with 14 homers and 74 runs batted in. He was generally considered to be a very good defensive catcher. That however changed.
In 1967, despite playing only 59 games, he led the league in passed balls and is still on the top 10 list for most passed balls in a season. Why? Well, he spent a large chunk of the season catching knuckleballer Phil Niekro. The pitch was not easy to receive and Uecker joked many times that the best way to catch a knuckleball was to wait until it stopped rolling and pick it up.
Uecker also played for the St. Louis Cardinals, winning a World Series Championship in 1964 and the Philadelphia Phillies before returning to the Braves, who had by then moved to Atlanta. His six-year Major League career concluded in 1967.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of Uecker’s career was when he hit a home run off future Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, after which Uecker joked that he always feared that home run would keep Koufax from getting into the Hall of Fame. He also hit home runs off Hall of Famers Ferguson Jenkins and Gaylord Perry.
BROADCASTING/COMMERCIALS/MOVIES/TV
After retiring from baseball, Uecker started a broadcasting career, which included local radio, national television, comedy, commercials, movies and sit coms. It’s hard to say what made him the most popular or recognizable. There’s so much to unpack.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, Uecker became a regular on late night talk shows. Appearing many times with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, it was there that Carson facetiously dubbed him “Mr. Baseball.”
In 1969 Uecker’s broadcasting career began with WSB-TV, on which he did television work with Ernie Johnson and Milo Hamilton. Uecker was able to parlay his humor on a broadcast to actually doing standup. He got a break at Al Hirt’s nightclub in Atlanta in 1969. Hirt was so impressed with Uecker’s dead-pan comedy that he arranged for him to appear on Carson’s late night talk show.
“They said I did a hundred ‘Tonight Show’s,’ Uecker told Fox Sports in an interview done by Tom Rinaldi before the All-Star Game. “I don’t know if I did or not, that’s what they said.” “I did it because I got along so good with Johnny. I was actually scared to death really but the show went well. And as we were saying goodnight, I hear Johnny say to Ed McMahon, … ‘Did that guy really play baseball?”
In addition to those appearances, he worked as a national color commentator for ABC and NBC baseball telecasts. Uecker wasn’t your typical former big leaguer doing baseball games on television. He was recognizable from everything that was going on in his post playing career.
Uecker co-hosted a variety of television shows in the 1970s and ’80s, among them ABC’s The Superstars, Battle of the Network Stars, and Bob Uecker’s Wacky World of Sports.
Uecker had additional fame outside of baseball, including Miller Lite commercials. The famous ‘Tastes great. Less filling.’ debate spawned many hilarious ads. Most popular was probably Uecker’s “I must be in the front row” commercial. As he brags about the perks of being a former player, calling up the front office for great tickets. He’s informed he’s in the wrong seat by the usher, then utters the iconic line. The punchline, he winds up in now what is called the “Uecker Seats”, in the way back of the upper deck.
Next, Uecker moved into television, starring in an ABC sitcom, “Mr. Belvedere,” as George Owens. The show aired over 100 episodes from 1985-90.
Some younger readers may know him more from his role as play-by-play announcer Harry Doyle in the Major League franchise. Doyle was the larger than life, sometimes drunk, announcer with very witty commentary. The Doyle line of “Juuuuuust a bit outside,” which described a very wild pitch, is a huge part of popular culture.
WHAT MAKES HIM GOOD?
Ueck may not have that typical play-by-play guy’s voice, but it doesn’t matter. Why should it? While the style may not be the same as most, Uecker offers so much more in a broadcast because of who he is. There aren’t many that can tell a story during a game like he can. His comedic timing works so well within the framework of a game. It never takes away from the action, but rather it’s enhanced. He combines wit and a wry sense of humor to make listening so enjoyable.
The energy level is still there for a guy that just passed 90-years-old. The fact that he’s from Milwaukee, played for Milwaukee and loves Milwaukee comes shining through in every game he does. There is just a joy in his voice, whether the Brewers are winning or losing. The fans love him, and he thrives on that fact, not in an egomaniacal way, but by showcasing his talents, as ‘one of them’. It’s a stage not many get to perform on, he does and takes ‘homer-ism’ to a unique place. By that I mean, Brewers fans love it, and fans of other teams don’t hate it. That’s a tough balancing act.
Uecker was honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame with its 2003 Ford C. Frick Award in recognition of his broadcasting career. In his nearly 20-minute speech, he showed all sides of his personality. Some gratitude, some humility and of course some humor. Like this excerpt:
“But as these players have bats, gloves…I had a great shoe contract and glove contract with a company who paid me a lot of money never to be seen using their stuff. Bat orders…I would order a dozen bats and there were times they’d come back with handles at each end. You know, people have asked me a lot of times, because I didn’t hit a lot, we all know that, how long a dozen bats would last me? Depending on the weight and the model that I was using at that particular time I would say eight to ten cookouts.”
Uecker began his 54th season calling Brewers games this season making him the second-longest tenured broadcaster among active MLB announcers. Only Denny Matthews of the Royals has been with his team longer.
DID YOU KNOW?
Uecker is also a member of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2010. In March 1987, he appeared at WrestleMania III as the ring announcer for the match featuring Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.
He returned in 1988 at WrestleMania IV as a ringside announcer and commentator during the opening Battle Royal and backstage interviewer. One famous WrestleMania segment saw André the Giant choking Uecker.
Uecker didn’t sign a broadcasting contract with the Milwaukee Brewers until 2021.
Before then, it was handshake agreements with owners Bud Selig and Mark Attanasio.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Uecker was asked by Rinaldi in that FOX Sports interview before the All-Star game about retirement. He had a funny (not surprising) retort.
“Tom, I don’t have anything else to do, for one thing. That’s the other thing,” Uecker said.
At 90 years-old Uecker is slowing things down a bit, by scaling back his schedule with the Brewers, but is showing no signs of retiring anytime soon.
“Get up! Get up! Get outta here! Gone!” that’s Uecker’s call when a Milwaukee Brewers player hits a homer, but that’s not a statement on his current plans.
The man just keeps on going.
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
