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Robert George Uecker ((IPA pronunciation: [], a homophone of the card game "Euchre")(born January 26, 1935 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American former Major League Baseball player, later an award-winning sportscaster, comedian and actor. Uecker jokingly identifies himself by the sobriquet of "Mr. Baseball".
Though he sometimes joked he was born on an oleo run to Illinois, Uecker was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up watching the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers at Borchert Field. He signed a professional contract with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956. He made his major league debut as a catcher with the Braves in 1962. A mediocre hitter who finished with a career batting average of .200, Uecker also played for the St. Louis Cardinals (and was a member of the 1964 World Champion club) and Philadelphia Phillies before returning to the Braves, who had by then moved to Atlanta. He closed his 6-year major league career in 1967.
After retiring as a player, Uecker returned to Milwaukee. In 1970, he began calling play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts, a position he holds to this day, as of 2006. He also served as one of the first color commentators on network television broadcasts in the 1970s (for ABC's Monday Night Baseball) and 1990s (for NBC as he teamed with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan for telecasts). During that time, he was a commentator for League Championship Series and the World Series.
Known for his humor, particularly about his undistinguished playing career, Uecker actually became much better known after he retired from playing. He had the most guest appearances of anybody on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, and appeared in a number of humorous commercials, most notably for Miller Lite beer, as one of the "Miller Lite All-Stars."
Uecker published two books, an autobiography entitled Catcher in the Wry (ISBN 0-515-09029-8), and Catch 222 (ISBN 0-399-13744-0).
Uecker also pursued an acting career, and played the part of George Owens during the successful five-year run of the television sitcom Mr. Belvedere in the 1980s. Uecker played a prominent role in the movie Major League as Harry Doyle, the announcer for the team the movie is based on, the Cleveland Indians. A very popular and funny phrase is often quoted from this movie; "Just a bit outside..." on a pitch that is several feet outside the strike zone.
His sports expertise extends beyond baseball. In 1987, Uecker appeared as a ringside annuoncer at WrestleMania III in Pontiac, Michigan, followed by a return in 1988 at WrestleMania IV. He also hosted two syndicated television shows, Bob Uecker's Wacky World of Sports and Bob Uecker's War of the Stars.
Uecker appeared in a series of commercials for the Milwaukee Admirals in the mid-1990s, including one in which he re-designed the team's uniforms to feature a garish plaid reminiscent of the loud sportcoats 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.[1]
Uecker was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2003, he received the Ford C. Frick Award, bestowed annually by the Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball." His humorous and self-deprecating speech was a highlight of the ceremony.[2]
In 2005, Uecker's 50th year in major baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers placed a number 50 in his honor in their "Ring of Honor", near the retired numbers of Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. He is also honored in Miller Park with a section of $1 seating called the "Uecker Seats", which is an obstructed-view area in the deep upper grandstand above home plate where the stadium's roof pivot comes together (in reference to one of his Miller Lite commercials).
On June 2, 2006, Bob Uecker filed a restraining order against a woman he contends has been harassing him for years and the previous week confronted him at a hotel pool over his refusal to assist her "charity" work. [3][4] On September 7, 2006, the restraining order was granted, banning the woman from all Brewers games home and away as well as anywhere Uecker is. [5]
In the fall of 2006, WWE contacted Uecker to appear at WrestleMania 23 on April 1, 2007 in Detroit, Michigan. It was reported in Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE wanted Uecker to be involved in a sketch of some sort with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. The event will commemorate the 20th anniversary of WrestleMania III in which Uecker participated. It is unknown if a deal has been reached.
Popular Culture
He was the voice of the "head of Bob Uecker" in the Futurama episode "A Leela of Her Own."
Uecker: Mulligan drives the ball. It's going, going and caught by the shortstop. Mets lose again. Man, I haven't seen play this bad since the days of Bob Uecker! This is Bob Uecker saying thanks for watching!
There is a punk rock band from Milwaukke named in his honor.
Other quotes
- "I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Actually, I was born in Illinois. My mother and father were on an oleo margarine run to Chicago back in 1934, because we couldn't get colored margarine in Wisconsin. On the way home, my mother was with child. Me. And the pains started, and my dad pulled off into an exit area, and that's where the event took place. I remember it was a Nativity type setting. An exit light shining down. There were three truck drivers there. One guy was carrying butter, one guy had frankfurters, and the other guy was a retired baseball scout who told my folks that I probably had a chance to play somewhere down the line." [6] (This story also appears, albeit in quotation marks, indicating it was part of his "standup act", in his 1982 autobiography, Catcher in the Wry. However, that same book's appendix lists his career stats and his birthplace as Milwaukee, which agrees with every major publication.)
- "I was a little nervous when I played my first game. The manager told me next time I should wear the protective cup inside the uniform."
- "Anybody with ability can play in the big leagues. But to be able to trick people year in and year out the way I did, I think that was a much greater feat."
- "I hit a grand slam off Ron Herbel and when his manager Herman Franks came out to get him, he was bringing Herbel's suitcase."
- "The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud."
- "In 1962 I was named Minor League Player of the Year. It was my second season in the Bigs."
- "I won the Comeback-of-the-Year Award five years in a row!"
- "The best way to catch a knuckleball is to wait till it stops rolling and pick it up!"
- "I must be in the front roooow!" -- In one of his TV commercials for Miller Lite where a Yankee Stadium box-seat usher informs him he is in the wrong seat. His correct seat turns out to be in the last row of the right field upper deck. The "Uecker Seats" section at Miller Park are inspired by the commercial.
- "Good seats, eh, buddy? ... He missed the tag! He missed the tag!" -- In that same commercial (to another patron in the "nosebleed section", as if he could tell from that distance).
- "Get up! Get up! Get out of here! GONE!" - is his "claim-to-fame" home run call.
- "It's got a chance to GOOOOOOOO - GOOOOONNNNEEE!" - Home run call from 1982, when the Brewers made it to the World Series
- "This is the first time I've ever had an option renewed!" - at WrestleMania IV, having appeared at WrestleMania III the previous year.
- "When I was young I had problems. My parents moved around a lot. But, I always seemed to find them."
- Upon receiving the Frick Award: "I still think I could've made it (the Hall of Fame) as a player."
- (To Andre the Giant) "You, you mind getting your foot off my shoulder?"
- "One time we were up by so much and had four or five hits in a row, so the manager came up to me and said 'Ueck, grab a bat and stop this rally.'"
- With the Brewers down, 8-0 - "Well, a couple of grand slammers and the Brew Crew is right back in this one!"
- "Juuuust a bit outside."
External links
fr:Bob Uecker
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