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Perhaps the funniest ex Army corporal ever passed on at the tender age of 90. Dubbed “Mr. Baseball” by no less than Johnny Carson, Bob Uecker epitomized baseball’s humor like few have done before or since, and was a touchstone of the Milwaukee Brewers almost from their start through two league championships (both American in 1982 and National in 2024) separated by over 40 years.<\/p>\n
Ueck was born in January 1934 and passed on Thursday “just a bit”\u00a0 (couldn’t resist) short of his 91st birthday on the 26th.\u00a0 He joined the Army in ’54 – with Korea still fresh on told the Army he had played ball for Marquette University in Milwaukee to get on a service team. It worked, and he played ball at both Ft. Leonard Wood and Ft. Belvoir. Worth a comment – Marquette didn’t HAVE a baseball team, but the Army never checked…<\/p>\n
After he got out he signed with that old Milwaukee team, the Braves. His baseball career was undistinguished, with a .200 batting average over 6 years in the bigs stretching from ’56 to ’67. Should also note he homered only 14 times, but two were off\u00a0 future Hall of Famers Sandy Kaufax and Gaylord Perry, and he escaped a run-down against the Mets. He was a very good defensive player, though, with a lifetime fielding percentage of .981. One anomaly – in ’67, despite only playing 59 games, he led the league in passed balls… but at the time he was primarily catching for Phil Niekro, a knuckleballer who was extremely hard to catch and still has the National League record\u00a0 for the most wild pitches in one inning. (Uecker always said the best way to catch a knuckleball was to wait till it stopped rolling at the backstop.)<\/p>\n
To a lot of older Midwesterners, Uecker was THE voice of the Brewers, just like Jack Buck for the St. Louis Cardinals and Harry Carey for – bet you think I’m gonna say Chicago Cubs? Carey announced 9 years longer for the Cards than the Cubs.\u00a0 Speaking of the Cards – did you know the Ueck has a World Series ring? He was a member of the ’64 Cards when they went all the way. He was a back-up catcher… who was benched because he borrowed a tuba from the stadium band and dented it up catching fly balls in it.<\/p>\n
Most of you younger folks may remember him as Harry Doyle, the veteran Cleveland Indians’\u00a0 (screw correctness, THAT is the name of the damn team)\u00a0 veteran play-by-play announcer in the movies “Major League” and “Major League II” (one of the few IIs that is as good as the original, btw.) Phrases he used in that movie are still being quoted around diamonds today, notably “JUST a bit outside” or “my pick for the Trojan-Enz Boner of the Week Award.” Me, I’m a sloppy sentimentalist and love that heartfelt “The Indians win it! The Indians win it! Oh my God, the Indians win it!”<\/p>\n
Mr. Uecker, you made the game human and funny in a way that no man did since the long-ago days of Al Schacht (the Clown Prince of Baseball). Over 100 ‘Tonight’ show appearances, TV series, movies – you were rarely ever THE star, but like a great character actor does, you were the glue that held\u00a0 it together, made us smile, and laugh. Me, I remember getting up at 2AM in 1982 so I could listen to the Brewers play Game 7 against the Cardinals when I was stationed in Germany…\u00a0 sorry, Ueck, I bleed Cardinal red and was rooting against you, but sure enjoyed the commentary.<\/p>\n
If you want a sample of his humor, take a listen to his Hall of Fame induction speech here<\/a><\/p>\n Sources:<\/p>\n Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/a><\/p>\n Wiki<\/a><\/p>\n AP<\/a><\/p>\n Baseball Almanac\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n NY Times<\/a><\/p>\n Milwaukee Journal Sentinel II<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"