Bob Uecker
Robert George Uecker (/ˈjuːkər/ YOO-kər; born January 26, 1934) is an American former professional baseball catcher who is the primary broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB).
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Uecker signed with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956, spending several years in the minor leagues with various affiliate clubs before making his major league debut in 1962. As a backup catcher, he played for the Milwaukee Braves, St. Louis Cardinals (with whom he won a World Series in 1964), Philadelphia Phillies, and Atlanta Braves from 1962 to 1967.
After retiring, Uecker started a broadcasting career and has served as a play-by-play announcer for Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts since 1971. Uecker became known for his self-deprecating wit and became a regular fixture on late night talk shows in the 1970s and 1980s, facetiously dubbed "Mr. Baseball" by TV talk show host Johnny Carson. He hosted several sports blooper shows and had an acting career that included his role as George Owens on the TV show Mr. Belvedere and as play-by-play announcer Harry Doyle in the film Major League and its two sequels.[1]
Uecker was honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame with its 2003 Ford C. Frick Award in recognition of his broadcasting career. In 2024, he began his 54th season calling Brewers games, the second-longest tenure among active major league baseball broadcasters (after Kansas City Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews).
Early life
Though he has sometimes joked that he was born on an oleo run to Illinois, Uecker was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,[2] the son of August "Gus" Uecker, who immigrated from Switzerland in 1923, and Mary Schultz Uecker, originally from Michigan. He has two younger sisters, Carol Ann and Rosemary.[3] He grew up watching the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers at Borchert Field.
Broadcasting career
After retiring as a player, Uecker returned to Milwaukee. In 1971, he began calling play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers' radio broadcasts, a position he holds to this day. Uecker's tenure as a Brewers broadcaster (54 years as of the 2024 season) is the second-longest continuous tenure with one team among active Major League Baseball announcers, trailing only Kansas City Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews (1969–present).
During his Brewers tenure, Uecker has mentored Pat Hughes, Jim Powell, Cory Provus and Joe Block, all of whom became primary radio announcers for other MLB teams.[9] For several years he also served as a color commentator for network television broadcasts of Major League Baseball, helping call games for ABC in the 1970s and early '80s and NBC (teaming with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan) in the 1990s. During that time, he was a commentator for several League Championship Series and World Series. He also called the 1982 World Series locally for the Brewers on WISN in Milwaukee.
In 2014, Uecker cut back on his workload, limiting the number of road games he would call and traveling he would undertake, due to prior health issues.[10]
Prior to the 2021 season, Uecker had never signed an official written contract with the Brewers to do the team's play-by-play, instead agreeing to do so via an undisclosed number of handshake agreements with either Bud Selig or Mark Attanasio, the owners of the team. He finally signed a contract in 2021, in order to be covered under the Brewers' health insurance plan after cuts to his SAG-AFTRA benefits for acting work.[11][12]
As of 2022, Uecker teams with Jeff Levering and Lane Grindle to call Brewers home games on WTMJ in Milwaukee and the Brewers Radio Network throughout Wisconsin.[13] He is well known for saying his catchphrase "Get up! Get up! Get outta here! Gone!" when a Brewers player hits a home run.[14]
Sports expertise outside baseball
Uecker's sports expertise extends beyond baseball. He hosted two syndicated television shows, Bob Uecker's Wacky World of Sports and Bob Uecker's War of the Stars. The former has since become known as The Lighter Side of Sports (albeit with a different host, Mike Golic) and remains one of the longest-running syndicated sports programs in American television history.
Uecker also appeared in a series of commercials for the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League in the mid-1990s, including one in which he re-designed the team's uniforms to feature a garish plaid reminiscent of the loud sports coats synonymous with Uecker in the 1970s and 1980s. In February 2006, the Admirals commemorated those commercials with a special event in which the players wore the plaid jerseys during a game. The jerseys were then auctioned off to benefit charity.[15]
Wrestling announcer
In March 1987, Uecker appeared at World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) WrestleMania III in Pontiac, Michigan, as the ring announcer for the pay-per-view's main event of Hulk Hogan versus André the Giant. He returned in 1988 at WrestleMania IV as a ringside announcer, commentator during the opening Battle Royal and backstage interviewer. One famous WrestleMania segment saw André the Giant choking Uecker.[16]
Humor
Known for his humor, particularly about his undistinguished playing career, Uecker actually became much better known after he retired from playing. He made some 100[17] guest appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. During one Tonight Show appearance, Carson asked him what the biggest thrill of his professional baseball career was and with his typical dry wit Uecker replied, "Watching a fan fall out of the upper deck in Philadelphia; the crowd booed." Most of his wisecracks poked fun at himself. He once joked that after he hit a grand slam off pitcher Ron Herbel, "When his manager came out to get him, he was bringing Herbel's suitcase." On another occasion, he quipped, "Sporting goods companies would pay me not to endorse their products."[18] On his later acting career, he commented, "Even when I played baseball, I was acting." Even when he was announcing games, he often said some outlandish things, like during a particularly bad game the Brewers were playing in, where he reportedly said, "A couple of grand-slammys and the Brewers are right back in it."
Uecker hosted Saturday Night Live on October 13, 1984. The episode also featured musical performances by Peter Wolf.[19] Uecker also appeared in a number of humorous commercials, most notably for Miller Lite beer, as one of the "Miller Lite All-Stars".
Uecker authored two books, an autobiography titled Catcher in the Wry, and Catch 222.