\n\n","providerName":"Twitter","providerUrl":"https://twitter.com","thumbnail_url":null,"type":"oembed","width":550,"contentType":"rich"},{"__typename":"Markdown","content":"Never much for the classroom, Uecker worked odd jobs with his dad, drove a truck at 15 for an uncle in Eagle River, Wis., and cut Christmas trees. More and more, baseball was his calling. He was an accomplished pitcher in Milwaukee's youth leagues but eventually settled in behind the plate and got his big break in 1956 when he signed with his hometown Braves. Contrary to his reputation in retirement, Uecker was actually a good power hitter in the Minors, including a 22-homer season in 1958. In the Majors, though, he was a career backup for the Braves, Cardinals, Phillies and Braves again, this time in Atlanta.\n\nIn Milwaukee, Uecker was teammates with Hall of Famers Warren Spahn, Eddie Mathews and Henry Aaron, who became a lifelong friend. In St. Louis, Uecker played 40 regular-season games for the 1964 World Series champion Cardinals but didn't appear in the Fall Classic and insisted he was iced out because of "the tuba incident." You see, there were three dixie bands playing in the outfield during batting practice before one of the games, and Uecker had donned a tuba and used it to shag fly balls. Management didn't appreciate the show. [Uecker, meanwhile, was slapped with a $260 bill for a dented tuba](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KP0xJ1Vb5A).\n\n"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 once said. "I was still in a World Series. When I got on the field, there was no messing around. I played hard."\n\nHere's a bit of trivia: Uecker hit 14 home runs in the Majors off 13 pitchers. Three went to the Hall of Fame: Fergie Jenkins, Sandy Koufax and Gaylord Perry. The only pitcher Uecker touched twice, Roy Sadecki, won 20 games for the Cardinals during the World Series season in '64.\n\nBut Uecker never batted better than .250 and never appeared in more than 80 games in a season. That was in his final season, 1967, when he hit .150 for the Phillies and Braves and led National League catchers with 11 errors and 27 passed balls. Braves knuckleballer Phil Niekro played a significant part in Uecker's defensive numbers that season. Later, someone asked Uecker the best way to handle a knuckleball.\n\n"Wait until it stops rolling," he said. "Then go to the backstop and pick it up."\n\nHe was just getting started.\n\nUecker might not be remembered for his statistics, but his one-liners -- always delivered with a straight face -- became the stuff of legend.\n\n* On his hitting prowess: "A .200 lifetime batting average in the Major Leagues tied me with another sports great averaging 200 or better in a 10-year period -- Don Carter, one of our top bowlers."\n* On awards: "You know, I was once named Minor League Player of the Year. Unfortunately, I had been in the Majors for two years at the time." \n \n \n* On signing with the Braves for $3,000: "That bothered my dad at the time because he didn't have that kind of dough to pay out. But he eventually scraped it up."\n\nUecker's wit and deadpan delivery made its way into pop culture. In one of the star-studded Miller Lite commercials, filmed at Dodger Stadium, Uecker is told by an usher that he is in the wrong seat. "I must be in the front rowwww," Uecker cooed. But the next scene shows Uecker sitting in the last row of the upper deck. Decades later, the Brewers installed a statue of Uecker [in the last row of the upper deck](https://www.mlb.com/news/bob-uecker-statue-gets-spot-in-last-row-at-miller-park/c-73326830) at American Family Field amid what the club calls the "Uecker seats." It's one of two Uecker statues on the stadium grounds today.\n\nAnother famous line is his home run call -- "Get up, get up, get out of here ... gone!" -- which is in lights at the home of the Brewers. But arguably Uecker's most well-known one-liner came from the first installment of "Major League." When Rick Vaughn (played by Charlie Sheen) throws a pitch clear to the backstop, the radio broadcaster (Uecker, as whiskey-swigging Harry Doyle) describes it as "Juuuuust a bit outside."\n\nUecker's real broadcasting career began sometime during the 1971 season in Milwaukee. Selig had led a group that bought the Seattle Pilots out of bankruptcy and moved them to County Stadium days before the 1970 season. Later he hired Uecker as a scout, but quickly scrapped that plan when a report arrived in the mail smothered in mashed potatoes and gravy. Selig swears that tale is true.\n\nSo Selig moved Uecker to the radio booth with veteran broadcasters Merle Harmon and Tom Collins. Uecker started by providing color analysis, and as time went on, the two veterans urged him to expand his comfort zone. Uecker believes his first inning of solo play-by-play was at Yankee Stadium, when Harmon and Collins abruptly stood and walked out of the booth in the fifth inning. Uecker held down the cough button and begged them to come back. They told him to call the game. Eventually, Uecker turned to the engineer and asked what he should do.\n\n"I don't know, but you'd better start talking," came the response. "There's one out."\n\nThe rest is broadcasting history. Uecker eventually assumed play-by-play duties and became the mentor to many an up-and-coming broadcaster in Milwaukee, from Pat Hughes to Jim Powell to Cory Provus to Joe Block before they all graduated to more prominent jobs. That ushered in the arrival of Uecker's most recent partners: Jeff Levering, Lane Grindle and Josh Maurer. Uecker also had a television career, calling national games for ABC and NBC, including several World Series.\n\n"Think about the Uecker tree," said Powell, Uecker's partner from 1996-2008 who went on to be the lead radio voice of the Atlanta Braves. "We are all these disciples, and we're spread out all over Major League Baseball. We all have these unique experiences with 'Ueck.'\n\n"I'm not aware of any other tree like that. You think about the other iconic broadcasters, and it's not like a bunch spawned from Ernie Harwell. It's not like a bunch spawned from Vin Scully. But Uecker uses his partner so well. Bob is never the whole show."\n\nPowell paused and added with a laugh, "Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with Uecker stories that I can talk about in public."\n\nFor many fans, the Brewers' worst games presented the best times to tune in. Uecker made a point to call the game straight if it was tight.\n\nBut when things got out of hand, it was time to have fun.\n\n"When you spend a lot of time with Ueck, you really wish that you wrote everything down," said former Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who grew up in greater Milwaukee and was in grade school when he first met Uecker. "That's what I always wish. I wish I wrote it all down."","type":"text"},{"__typename":"Markdown","content":"* **Archive:** **'Ueck' carrying legacy into Crew's playoff run**","type":"text"},{"__typename":"Markdown","content":"Nineteen full-time and interim Brewers managers sat with Uecker for the daily pregame radio show, from Dave Bristol to Pat Murphy. Uecker curtailed his travel beginning in 2014 and eventually worked only home games, including in 2024, when, at age 90, he'd earned the right to come and go as he pleased while the rest of the team's broadcast crew filled in around him. That included in the 2024 National League Wild Card Series, when Uecker was at the stadium for all three games against the Mets but opted only to call Game 3, a heartbreaker of a loss that flipped on Pete Alonso's home run off Milwaukee closer Devin Williams with two outs in the ninth inning.\n\n"I'm telling you," Uecker said before signing off that night, "that one had some sting on it."","type":"text"},{"__typename":"Video","contentDate":"2024-10-04T03:27:46.371Z","preferredPlaybackScenarioURL({\"preferredPlaybacks\":\"mp4AvcPlayback\"})":"https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2024/2024-10/03/a05cabc4-751214b6-1bc678c5-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4","type":"video","description":"Check out the best of Bob Uecker's calls in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series between the Brewers and the Mets","displayAsVideoGif":false,"duration":"00:02:09","slug":"best-of-bob-uecker-s-calls-in-game-3-of-nl-wild-card","tags":[{"__typename":"GameTag"},{"__typename":"TeamTag","slug":"teamid-158","title":"Milwaukee Brewers","team":{"__ref":"Team:158"},"type":"team"},{"__typename":"TaxonomyTag","slug":"vod","title":"vod","type":"taxonomy"},{"__typename":"TaxonomyTag","slug":"game-action-tracking","title":"game action tracking","type":"taxonomy"},{"__typename":"TaxonomyTag","slug":"highlight","title":"highlight","type":"taxonomy"},{"__typename":"TaxonomyTag","slug":"nlwc","title":"NL Wild Card","type":"taxonomy"},{"__typename":"TaxonomyTag","slug":"series-a","title":"Series A","type":"taxonomy"},{"__typename":"TaxonomyTag","slug":"broadcasters","title":"Broadcasters","type":"taxonomy"}],"thumbnail":{"__typename":"Thumbnail","templateUrl":"https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/{formatInstructions}/mlb/fqixp36acvr5god1h5bc"},"title":"Best of Bob Uecker's calls in Game 3 of NL Wild Card","relativeSiteUrl":"/video/best-of-bob-uecker-s-calls-in-game-3-of-nl-wild-card"},{"__typename":"Markdown","content":"But even as his workload waned, he remained as much a part of the team as any player. In 2018, after the Brewers' season ended with a loss to the Dodgers in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, it was director of team travel Dan Larrea's duty to call his longtime friend and inform Uecker that the players had voted him a full playoff share.\n\nThat year, it was worth $122,957.13. Uecker donated the money to his favorite charities.\n\n"He almost came to tears when I told him," Larrea said.\n\nThe tradition repeated when the Brewers made the postseason again in 2019, '20, '21, '23 and '24, according to sources. In 2021, the Brewers threw a celebration to mark Uecker's 50th anniversary in the booth, complete with a pregame ceremony. Players made him custom Nikes with an "Air Uecker" logo.","type":"text"},{"__typename":"OEmbed","html":"