Good-bye, Mr Baseball

Bob Uecker at left above 6 in 620. 4/19/2013 dwm photo

 My earliest sports memories came over the radio. I'm guessing I was 8 years old at the time. The bedroom routine included dad reading a story, a bedtime prayer, then turned on the radio while I reading. 

 Depending on the season, I frequently fell asleep listening to the Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers.

 Bob Uecker joined the Brewers broadcast team in it's second season in Milwaukee. The original duo of Merle Harmon and Tom Collins welcomed Bob Uecker to the booth in 1971.

 Two years later, it was Harmon and Uecker working together.  Harmon left the job after the 1979 season to announce the 1980 summer Olympics, but the U.S.A. boycott prevented that but he didn't return. 

I don't have specific memories but I liked what I heard from the two of them and the Bucks' announcer, Eddie Doucette who did play-by-play for 16 years.

1 of 2 statues of Ueck at AmFam Field

I dreamed of doing play-by-play. One of the first autographs I got was from Jim Irwin who became the voice of the Packers and was an occasional announcer for the Bucks. In the old Milwaukee Arena (still standing as the UWM Panther Arena), Dad took me down to the court after the game to ask if he'd sign our program (I don't know where it went).

While working at WCLO in Janesville, my primary role was running the board for one of the many games the AM radio station. I was in the booth for the Brewers, Badgers, Bucks, and high school games from fall until spring, then working more in the summer and on weekends.

I loved the rhythm of the radio call and understanding the vocal cues before they paused for a station identification or a commercial break. But it was Uecker's stories about playing or not playing major league baseball that kept me interested.

His career batting average was .200, which is not great. But even then I realized the odds of playing professional baseball were so low that earning a spot on the bench for six years meant he earned his time in the league. 

The most recent Star Wars bobblehead.

 Bob liked to make people laugh and by making fun of himself. He had a lot of funny lines:

 I signed a very modest $3,000 bonus with the Braves in Milwaukee. And my old man didn't have that kinda money to put out.  

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. 

 The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up.

 Hey, I think it's easy for guys to hit .300 and stay in the big leagues. Hit .200 and try to stick around as long as I did; I think it's a much greater accomplishment. That's hard.

  Uecker called Brewer games for 54 seasons and was part of baseball for 70 of his 90 years.

I'm in the front row. 9/18/2014

The thing about Bob I loved, as did many of his fans, was that when he had numerous opportunities to seek more fame and money, he stayed with the Brewers and his home-town of Milwaukee.

The owner of the New York Yankees tried to lure him to the Big Apple, Ueck said no. He took advantage of opportunities on the silver screen, most notably in Major League, worked in TV as a guest with 100 appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show and part of Mr. Belvedere for it's five-year run on ABC.

He always came home.

If you don't have your own memories of Bob Uecker or want to get a feel for the person, I recommend watching his acceptance speech into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster in 2003.  

Bob's home run call should live on. dwm photo

 I'm thankful for experiencing most of his 54 years behind the mike.

 While in college I worked at WHO in Des Moines for most of a year and recall how the morning drive host talked about radio and why it is a special medium of communication.

 Radio is an incredibly personal form of communication. You might listen to it in the car, you can tune in at work, and you can listen to it in the bathroom. It's with you for exciting games and for potential damaging storms. It can get your blood beating with excitement because Robin Yount just hit safely for his 3,000th hit and cry when your team loses the World Series.

Bob Uecker was on a winning World Series team as a player, he got to another as a broadcaster, 2025 could be a magical season for the Milwaukee Brewers, it would be fitting to see them win it all this year for Bob.  Rest in peace.