Mr. Baseball: Bob Uecker

would see? I'm so happy that Johnny Carson gave him the opportunity to be the Bob Yuka that we all know he can be the baruka. They paid me a huge amount of money, I'm not going to name the sporting goods companies, there were four, MH, uh, he was never seen using his equipment, it was one of those things where he was in and no one knew we'd ever see him again. see, then it was there again and again. Bob was in Johnny Carson. 100 times, that's about 99 more than I had, in fact, it was more than almost anyone had ever had.

Bob Uker was one of Johnny Carson's most frequent guests. It all started in 1969, when uker did a stand at the big jazz nightclub Al Herz. I went there and about half an hour went by and when we finished we were sitting there having a beer and he said you know you're wasting your time doing this because of what you're doing he said I'm going to take you to the show tonight I said oh yeah, very good, but two weeks later they called me to bat for the last time uh, I looked in the visitors' dugout and I saw all the guys sitting there with their street. with my clothes on, I remember after the first show I did I heard Johnny ask Ed McMahon if that guy really played

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and he said, "I think so," and then I came back like two weeks later and did another show and maybe I did four shows in the first one. a couple of months after I did the first one and then, you know, I became kind of a semi-regular, uh, he's given a lot to the sport, something will occur to me in a moment, uh, he's not in Cooperstown asked you not to even visit Coopertown, uh, would you welcome Mr Baseball Mr Baseball Mr Baseball Mr Baseball?

He wasn't there because Johnny liked him and he had a good time when he showed it, that wasn't why he was there. He was there because he was a bonus character and he had his back every time. How about the World Series? Did it disappoint you? Did it surprise you? No, I picked the Reds, Johnny, in fact, I picked the Reds, I picked the A's last year, come on, you picked them. In the fourth game I picked the Reds in four after the series was over, sometimes someone just catches you and Johnny just caught you. Have you ever caught a no-hitter?

He was in two no-hitters and unfortunately they were thrown at us, but oh well. That's what you were there, I did my part, that's the main thing, you were there, I did my part, if you had something in you, Johnny would bring it out and with Yuker, they just pressed the button and they were both having fun, that? It was the participation among the players, how good I didn't get one. I heard they got 8600 a piece. I thought all the players shared there, well, you're supposed to, but when Johnny Carson disappeared under his desk, then you knew.

I caught him because he would laugh, give him one of those injections and then he would fall and you wouldn't see him for a second with Uker. He did that all the time one night, Bob showed an 8 by 10 photo of him pouring. champagne on my head with several other teammates around, obviously it's a locker room celebration, no, actually, this is a photo of me getting ready for a game. Johnny disappeared behind the desk and made it. Johnny built a theater at the University of Nebraska, so they asked me. to go out and do a show, they sell the place, I mean, it's sold out with students after we're done, one of Johnny's people came up to me, I think he's Johnny's nephew, one of his writers and everything, and told me.

Bob, did you ever know why Johnny liked you? I told him no, you know I never knew because we always got along, you know, he said he liked you because you didn't care, that's what he told me, he didn't say. "Be careful," he said because you don't give up, that's a big part of your personality. He just doesn't care when I broadcast. Yes. I often work naked in the cabin. I didn't know for someone to do it. to be there as many times as uker was and hit a home run every time, that's unheard of, well, here, we'll be right back, my last game, uh, in the major leagues, uh, you know, you think about, you know, it would be a day that you would want remember uh, I sure can remember, you know, a couple of bottles came flying at me and a couple of cans, nuts and bolts, and you know that's when I left my house for someone to be on the show tonight so many times . the way you were, it gave him the opportunity to market who he was and what he could do and be sure that they wouldn't have come to him with any of the other things if he hadn't been on my show tonight.

Doc was right. In the early to mid 80's they came to Bob Uker with many opportunities, he hosted Saturday Night Live. I was producing Saturday Night Live in the mid-'80s and I had these

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lovers who were among the stars of our cat, particularly Billy Crystal. I love it. piece he does with uh Billy where the roles are reversed and Billy plays young Bob. I can not believe this. I can not believe this. I'm a good son, oh, so I keep my room clean, yeah, and I get good grades, yeah. the grades the grades don't mean anything to me you know catch the damn ball eh eh look at your mother and I think it's better if and for the team too if you leave the house where am I going what am I doing well you're going to be with the family Martin, we've chosen you , uker will also start his own sitcom Mr Bader, which ran for six seasons, but what uke is probably best known for is a series of beer commercials, okay, maybe I wasn't the best player of them all. time, but the fans forgive and forget when I come in here, they will buy me my favorite beer, light beer, you know you, Bob, how do you do it?

I love these fans, they know that Major League It was natural, give me two cases, you can have this baby in one case, no, a six pack, half a can, the big one. Miller Light light beer league where the L filling tastes great, okay, I'll give you two cases and you don't have to take the car, but that's my final offer. You must have a pair of mine. I already knew exactly what was necessary for these commercials. I know one of the best things about being the next pig farmer is receiving gifts for the game. Call the front office bingo and once these fans recognize me, I probably won't even have to pay for my life.

P for the biller. I love him in the front row. Look, now it's a slogan, good seats, hey, you're on the wrong page, buddy, come on, oh, I must be in the front row. I don't care where I go, if I mean even on airplanes, um, oh, I should be in the front row. and then end up in that bad seat where I was at the top of Dodger Stadium, good seats, man, lost etiquette, lost etiquette, lost etiquette, lost etiquette, all that front row stuff or the label was lost. those things have become a part of American culture, they really have, ladies and gentlemen, the newest edition of the great monuments in a great baseball stadium, the real Bob Uker statue in the front row, that commercial got a lot of attention , even from a highly respected director in Hollywood who was about to cast his latest film, I had seen it in the Miller Light commercials and thought it was incredibly funny.

I knew I had that. There was something in his whole Person that suggested Harry Doyle to me. Harry Doyle was a combination of Someone I imagined and just thinking about Bob Uker, I was doing a play in Kamsky Park and David came into the booth and told me that they wanted to talk to me, that they had this role in this movie if I hadn't gotten . uker would have been, would have been strange, I don't really know what I would have done, hello again everyone, Harry Doyle, here, welcoming all of you friends of the major feather league, it's one of those movies that doesn't go to win any Academy Awards. but you can watch it 100 times if I'm flipping through the channel and I get the major league.

I don't care what they put. I'm going to see her. It's one of those movies where you know you're sitting at home and it's on and you might get halfway there but you know you remember it, you can't wait for certain scenes to come back and uker without uker, the movie It's not even half as good as Christ offers you after the game. I can't find it Bob is so brilliant with extemporaneous thinking and humor that I'm sure many of the lines were never written by anyone but Bob. David told me you know what you want to say. you know, use it from time to time he would say something and I would say that's great, it's not the ticket but it's great to fall in the wind on his first offer a little outside he tried the corner and missed when I saw him throw That ball was the first that came to mind.

I knew she was fun. Little did I know it would become part of the Sports Lexicon. Every ballplayer and ballplayer could have been born after the movie arrived. going out makes no difference the player approaches him just a little outside just a little outside just a little outside just a little outside usually when an actor has a day off they take the day off but the days we were filming with you a lot of the Actors would show up and just stand behind the camera and watch them, they were just so entertained by the bass and Baugh walked the bases loaded with 12 pitches in a row.

How can these guys drop pitches that close out movies? The Tonight Show commercials Bob uker was everywhere everywhere we went in the country they knew who Bob was most of the time they didn't know who we were but we were with him and then they knew we must be someone because we were with Bob uker Bob was so famous uh and it's still that a lot of people would come find him and they would come visit us at our Milwaukee radio booth Richard Nixon Mickey Manel Joe deio Tom Hanks I was in a restaurant with him in Los Angeles uh these popular restaurants with many celebrities and all that.

I went in there one night with you for dinner and I'm telling you, we came to this restaurant and like the whole restaurant, at some point he came up to say hello or introduced himself because people knew him or wanted to meet him. I don't think celebrity means anything to him at all. the extent to which he appreciates her, enjoys her but doesn't need her, certainly doesn't court her, it's not important to him what makes Bob so likable to people is that he's genuine, whether it's movies, TV shows, ball games, that's the guy, he's just himself, whether you know him nationally or locally, he's the same guy you don't. change, he is exactly what he is and exactly, he is exactly what he is on the air in the same way that he is off the air and I think that is why people love him, why he has lasted so long in the 1980s .Bob Uker did the Mr Badier TV show and one. of the taping schedules they had him in Hollywood during September when Milwaukee we were in a pennant race and I remember calling him on the phone and telling him what happened at the ball game and he said God I really wish I was there you know it's It's great gig to have this tv show but i really miss the ball games i actually do and i knew he meant it too all the tonight shows and everything i did mr beler and i always had to do it .

Back to baseball and it's not that I didn't like all the things I did, but baseball was baseball was always the bottom line and for Bob Uker that bottom line has lasted 43 years, in addition to his time at ABC he also worked on games postseason. on NBC in the '90s, you guys are ready for this absolutely, come on baby, World Series, come on, but with that and all the exposure and fame that has come from TV movies and commercials, you can never stop making games of the Brewers and is now on his fifth. decade in the Milwaukee Booth throwing a soft line drive Bas in left center a run is going to score and the Brewers have the lead, he is a very good baseball announcer and if you listen to Bob for five or six minutes you will want him to say something that goes for make you laugh while Driscoll makes the appropriate call defensive indifference or as we call it and score, who cares Bob has had this wonderful ability to give you the game and then bang, you know that's where Major League 3 was filmed, that's right, yeah .

I haven't seen it, wasn't it that bad? He was on the planes the day we finished it. He's a lot of fun in the air, but he's an exceptionally good announcer throwing a looping hit to right center. A career is within. I'm going to try and score Luk Roy, here's the shot that's there, you really feel the game through him and while he's certainly a beer announcer, in that sense he's a home run, he's not a mindless Homer, he'll give you a fair decision. In the game you will understand when the Brewers are not doing well, but when they are doing well then you feel the emotion through it.

Morgan a Smash Up the middle b h to Center Here comes goz Around the third, one shot and the Brewers win, the Brewers are moving. In the event of a Nigr Morgan hit, he would certainly put his name in Jack Buck Ernie Harwell Ben Scully's M Allen Bob's hat because he's up there, he knows he knows the game and he knows how to convey. He has been knocked out. to the Hall of Fame as an announcer because he isfunny, consider one game as good as any other. In fact, it is my personal honor to present my friend Bob Uker with the C Freck Award.

They told me I was going to participate and they asked me about doing something well to get there and do my thing well I said well, how much time do I have? you know, tell me, tell me how much time do I have, maybe 6 7 even minutes I said I can't, I can't work like that I can't do that he said what do you need I said 15 minutes I can you know I'll do something in 15 minutes my first sport was basketball eighth grade and my dad didn't want to buy me the uh the Johnny, your supporter, you know how to do the job, so my mom made me one out of a flower sack made.

She came in without a script, he didn't have a single piece of paper in front of him, the guy watching you knows exactly where you are. going because little specks of flowers keep falling on Muke, you have to have at least some notes, you know, write down your five or six best anecdotes n n no, I'll say whatever comes to mind and he did. I remember Jean making fun of doing things for I in Philadelphia would be sitting there and he would say, "Take a bat and stop this demonstration. Send me there without a bat and tell me to try to take a walk.

Look at the third base coach for a sign and tell him." He turns his back on you, you know, all those guys are sitting behind me telling me to move on. All the players, I'm Yogi, were behind me laughing. I can hear those guys. I laughed a lot, my kids also used to do things that irritated me. I would take them to a game and they wanted to come home with a different player. It was about 18 minutes of the comedy Wal the Wall, laugh after laugh after laugh in 1967. I set a major league record for F-balls and I did it without playing every game.

In fact, there was a game during that year when he and Phil's brother were pitching against each other in Atlanta, his parents were sitting right behind home plate. I saw his parents more that day than I did all weekend. They still play that speech I gave in Cooper Town, you know, in the hall, so it's kind of humbling. I don't care who you are, at any time. I don't mind. how do you get into the Hall of Fame to be able to do that and be among the guys that are there, the announcers that are there, I mean, that's pretty cool, this has always been the number one baseball, the commercials, the movies. the television series I Couldn't Wait for It All to Be Over to Get Back to Baseball.

Still, and this is not a bitter thing by any means, I still think he should have come in as a player. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Hall. of fame voice of the Milwaukee Brewers Milwaukee's own Mr. Baseball Bob Uker let's face it Bob is bigger than any player who has ever played here, you could easily argue that Bob Uker is the most famous sports personality in Wisconsin history Lombardi was there for so long and then left Brett because he had a good career. Aaron Roders is having a good career right now.

Al Maguire was there for several years, but not as long as Bob. I mean, Bob has had a multi-decade career, so connected to great-grandfather, grandfather, father and now son, my association with the Brewers and the state of Wisconsin and with you fans in particular, has been nothing short of wonderful when a man has two statues of himself, one outside the stadium and one inside. the stadium that gives you an idea of ​​how much Bob Uker has meant to the city of Milwaukee. I can't think of anywhere else he'd rather be as a player, broadcaster or citizen than here in Milwaukee or the state. from Wisconsin, this guy could have worked in New York, he could have worked in Los Angeles, he could have quit baseball and been an actor, and he always chose to stay in Milwaukee and broadcast Brewers baseball, and the people he knows don't. forget about Bob has been almost the perfect combination of celebrity and yet he can still be the announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers and here he comes beaten.

He swings I live here this is where I grew up this is where I was born and raised the other is all advantages, you know, I love baseball, I mean, in short, I love baseball, you know, don't do this while he's done it, reaching 80 and having endured health problems along the way, don't do it unless I love it, some of those health problems were quite serious in 2009, there was surgery to remove tumors from his pancreas and then in April of 2010, you noticed something wasn't right. He was doing a game in Chicago and uh R. I'll never forget Ryan Tero. he was a hitter and suddenly I went blank, I couldn't see well, here we go with Chicago sending Ryan Tero to Le.

Things shut down and all of a sudden, maybe 15 or 20 seconds, everything came back, so I went out to the hospital here. They discovered that he had a leaky valve. I did the surgery, they replaced all the things. I feel very good, very good, otherwise I would not have returned to work, but the doctors said I was fine and they knew I was fine. coming back anyway so there's nothing they could do 6 months later when baseball season ended they tell him there's still a mind blowing leak so they had to do the open heart surgery again. I've never talked to anyone who's died, how do you know how? it's dying nobody knows nobody knows and when they do that type of surgery you don't know what's happening you're in the darkest place you could be there there's nothing and suddenly you're awake since that scare there have been other health problems , but now, at 79 years old, Bob uker feels fine, thank you and you can find him, as always, on the Milwaukee Brewers broadcast.

Booth the sign and here's the first bid in tonight's game and it's outside the outside and We're going I don't know anyone I'm 80 years old I don't know and most of my life has been spent in sports. I don't know anyone, including great athletes, who is in the shape he is today. Hey guys, everyone's okay, okay. right in the head hello gang, hello everyone and most of all you have to see to see how young he is. Contemporary players revere him and then when they discover how accessible he is and how fun he is, he goes much further. bow they fall in love with him hello Ramy how are you how are you Ramy how are you well well well well how are you doing well the relationship you build with the players happens quickly we have new players and in a couple of days they are friends for life, very good, the players still accept me as one of them, not as a broadcaster, no, no, they don't accept me as a broadcaster, they accept me as one of them, and that's the one thing you really know is that it's great for me, he he really enjoys the camaraderie that exists between the guys and, although he is concerned about being considerably older and has gone through three or four generations of players, I think it's a really comfortable world for Bob Uger.

When I first bought the team I couldn't believe he was doing all the spring training games like uke what are you doing? You're announcing spring training games, well, yeah, that's my job. I say, well, yes, it's your job, but. You know you don't have to be down here announcing to everyone, no, that's what he wanted to do. Baseball is his life and Milwaukee is his life. It's a difficult combination to give up. I love talking to people. You know, I love doing what I do. the air I really do it I don't know what else I would do I fish I play golf I play the games I don't know what else I would do I don't know here he is swinging a smash B this one is already over From 7:00 to 10:30 during baseball season you turn on your radio and You're going to be listening to Bob Uker, one run comes, here comes another and the Brewers get two more when you've done something for so long.

It just became at a certain time every day. I'm supposed to be here and that's what your family knows. Your wife knows it. Everybody knows. You will be here so long. Everyone is listening to Brewers Radio Network. like Alfred Hitchcock here. The birds are catching more fish than we are. I know it fits into the program, yes, this is nice, we go in a group.