Bob Uecker, the voice of his hometown Milwaukee Brewers who after a short playing career earned the nickname “Mr. Baseball” and Hall of Fame honors, has died. He was 90 years old.
The team announced Uecker’s death Thursday morning, 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 been battling small cell lung cancer since early 2023.
“Even in the face of this challenge, his enthusiasm for life was always present, never allowing his spirit to waver,” the family said.
Uecker was best known as a colorful comedian and broadcaster who earned his nickname during one of his many appearances on Johnny Carson’s late-night show.
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Uecker signed his first professional contract with the Milwaukee Braves in 1956 and reached the majors in 1962. He spent six seasons in the big leagues as a backup catcher, finishing with an average of .200 and 14 homers.
He won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 1964 and also played for Atlanta and Philadelphia.
“Highlights of your career? I had two,” he often joked. “I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and came out of a loss to the Mets.”
Uecker also became friends with former Brewers owner and MLB 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, the second year after the team moved from Seattle.
Uecker remained with the club from that point on and became one of the Brewers’ most indelible figures. Brewers manager Craig Counsell grew up in the Milwaukee area and remembers spending summer days throwing a baseball against the roof and catching it while listening to Uecker’s broadcasts.
“There is no one in the history of this franchise who has been as iconic and as important as Bob Uecker,” said Jeff Levering, a member of the Brewers broadcast team since 2015.
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Even as his celebrity status grew nationally, Uecker relished the opportunity to continue calling games for his hometown fans.
“Being able to play a game every day throughout the summer and talking to people every day at 6:30 for an evening game, you become part of people’s families,” Uecker once said. “I know because I get messages from people telling me. That’s part of the reward of being here, just being recognized by the way you talk, the way you describe a game, whatever.
Uecker was honored by the Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award in 2003 and spent nearly 20 minutes keeping the crowd of about 18,000 in Cooperstown, New York, in stitches.
“I still think – and this is by no means sour grapes – that I should have gone there as a player,” he joked.
“Ueck” got his big break off the field after opening for Don Rickles at Al Hirt’s nightclub in Atlanta in 1969. This performance caught Hirt’s attention and the musician groomed him to appear on Tonight’s show with Johnny Carson. He became one of Carson’s favorite guests, making over 100 appearances.
It was Carson who nicknamed Uecker “Mr. Baseball.” And the name stuck.
(NOTE: The video below contains strong language. Watch at your own discretion.)
But Uecker’s comedy was only part of his abilities. His warm storytelling and delivery made Uecker a natural to become one of the first color commentators on network television broadcasts in the 1970s with ABC. In the 1990s, he teamed with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan for the World Series.
From there, Uecker reached most homes as one of the Miller Lite stars in popular commercials for the Milwaukee-based beer brand and Uecker later launched his television acting career in 1985 on the ABC sitcom, Mr. Belvedere.
Uecker played George Owens during the hit 122-episode series that ran for six years, as the head of the household and sportswriter in a household who brings in a butler who has difficulty adjusting to an American household .
In a cast that kept things pretty close to home, Uecker also had a prominent role in the films. Major League (1989) and Major League II (1994) as foul-mouthed announcer Harry Doyle for a struggling 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 ironic description of a very capricious terrain: “Juuuust a little outside!” – in the film is still often repeated by announcers and fans in stadiums around the world.
Uecker’s play led some to believe he was funnier than a serious baseball announcer, but his tenure and observations with the Brewers were spot on, especially when games were close. Just as enjoyable were the games that weren’t, where Uecker told stories about other major players, his own career, and his hobbies as an avid fisherman and golfer.
“I don’t think anyone wants to hear someone messing around when you’re having a good game,” Uecker said. “I think people see Major League and they think of Harry Doyle and think that’s what Bob Uecker does. I do that sometimes, I do. But when we have a good match, I don’t joke.
In his final years, he took his health seriously, swimming daily until heart surgery in April 2010. Very soon after the procedures, doctors said Uecker began walking several miles again and he was early in his convalescence.
Uecker insisted on returning to the booth and began calling plays again in July, claiming he had bribed the doctors into allowing them to throw out the first pitch.
“You talk about everything Bob did, he never wanted to leave Milwaukee,” Selig said. “Above all, he has become an excellent play-by-play announcer. That’s what he did. He is everything to this franchise and loves every minute of it.
Uecker’s career provided most of his material. His former teammates said Uecker would do impressions of other broadcasters on the bus, but Uecker turned the spotlight on himself once his playing career ended.
“I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for $3,000. It bothered my father at the time because he didn’t have that kind of money,” he said. “But he eventually got it back.”
Another classic: “When I came to bat with three men and two outs in the ninth, I looked in the other team’s dugout and they were already in street clothes.”
Uecker also presided over the emotional 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 on the upper deck and obstructed for $1.
The stadium, now known as American Family Field, has two statues honoring Uecker. There’s a statue outside the stadium and another in the back of section 422, a nod to the Miller Lite commercial in which he said “I gotta be in the front row!” while being taken to one of the worst seats in the stadium.
