MILWAUKEE -- Bob Uecker was a famously mediocre Major League hitter who discovered that he was much more comfortable at a microphone than home plate. And that was just the start of a second career in entertainment that reached far beyond the ballpark.
Uecker, the backup catcher turned Hollywood star, and the legendary radio voice of his hometown Brewers for more than five decades, died early Thursday after a private, multiyear battle with cancer. He was 90.
Bob Uecker, 1934-2025
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“While this onetime backup catcher was known for his self-deprecating style, Bob Uecker was one of the game’s most beloved figures throughout his 70-year career in baseball," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "In his six years in his hometown of Milwaukee as well as St. Louis, Philadelphia and Atlanta, Bob made lifelong friendships with many Hall of Famers and other stars of the ’60s, and he was a member of the 1964 World Series Champion Cardinals. Near the beginning of his remarkable 54-year run in the Brewers’ radio booth, Bob’s trademark wit became a staple of television and movies. Even with his considerable success in Hollywood, Bob remained fiercely loyal to baseball and to Milwaukee. He loved the game and used his platform to help numerous charitable causes in his hometown and beyond.
“Bob was the genuine item: always the funniest person in any room he was in, and always an outstanding ambassador for our National Pastime. We are grateful for this baseball life like no other, and we will never forget him. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest sympathy to Bob’s family, his many friends across the game, Brewers fans and the countless baseball fans who admired him.”
Uecker was a career .200 hitter but gained fame thanks to his quick wit. Nicknamed “Mr. Baseball” by “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson during one of Uecker’s 100 or so appearances on late-night TV, he starred in a popular series of Miller Lite commercials, then in the ABC sitcom “Mr. Belvedere” and in the “Major League” film trilogy. He authored two books, hosted “Saturday Night Live” and WrestleMania, and famously graced the pages of Sports Illustrated as a septuagenarian in a speedo.
But Uecker’s first love was baseball, and that never changed. Following six seasons in the Major Leagues with the Braves, Cardinals and Phillies, then a failed stint as a Brewers scout, Uecker’s voice became one of the sounds of summer in the Midwest. He joined the Brewers radio team in 1971 and launched a second career in broadcasting that led to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame, the Radio Hall of Fame, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame as the 2003 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award.
That’s how a .200 hitter gets into Cooperstown.
“It’s going to be very hard to not see him the first day of Spring Training,” said Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio, who was surprised to learn upon purchasing the team from the Selig family that Uecker never worked on a contract, preferring instead a handshake deal and the trust that he’d always come home. “It’s going to be very hard to go into the radio booth and not see him. It’s going to be very hard to walk through that ballpark, American Family Field, and hear a voice calling the game that’s not his.”
Uecker is survived by his wife, Judy, and children Sue Ann and Bob Jr., who have blessed the Brewers’ plans to hold a summer event at American Family Field to properly celebrate his life with the stadium full of fans. In a statement, the family disclosed that Uecker had been treated for small cell lung cancer since early 2023, “which he met with the same strength and resilience that defined him. Even in the face of this challenge, his enthusiasm for life was always present, never allowing his spirit to falter.”
The family continued, “He brought joy to countless listeners through his wit, charisma, and love for baseball, Milwaukee, and all of Wisconsin, creating a legacy that will forever be cherished. While his contributions to the game are noteworthy, it is his kindness, humility, and love for family and friends that we will hold closest to our hearts.”
Attanasio referred to Uecker as “the heart of Milwaukee baseball,” and it was clear the city loved him back. Fans visited his statue outside the ballpark throughout the day Thursday and left not only flowers, but the Miller beer which Uecker famously promoted in television advertisements while becoming a household name.
“Some of the legends of the game were Bob’s friends,” said Brewers star Christian Yelich. “They would go out on the town pre-social media, pre-cell phones and he’d have these wild stories. You could just let him go on forever.”
“He was the voice of Brewers baseball, and for a lot of people, he was the voice of baseball, period,” former Brewer Ryan Braun said. “And the fact he chose to continue to be that voice in Wisconsin, for the Brewers, speaks to how much he cared about the people who loved him.”
No matter what other sources tell you, Robert George Uecker was born in Milwaukee on Jan. 26, 1934. Throughout his playing career, the back of Uecker’s baseball cards said he was born in 1935. Uecker never cared enough to fix the mistake until 2014, when he finally set the record straight on his 80th birthday.
Uecker’s father, August, was a Swiss immigrant who worked as a tool-and-die maker and mechanic. His mother, Mary Schultz, was born in Michigan and had a brother, Bernard, who played professional baseball in the Tigers organization. August and Mary settled on Milwaukee’s near north side and had three children who grew up surrounded by baseball. At St. Boniface grade school, Uecker was within walking distance of Borchert Field, home to the original iteration of the Milwaukee Brewers, a Minor League team that played from 1902-52.
“He was the voice of Brewers baseball, and for a lot of people, he was the voice of baseball, period,” former Brewer Ryan Braun said. “And the fact he chose to continue to be that voice in Wisconsin, for the Brewers, speaks to how much he cared about the people who loved him.”
No matter what other sources tell you, Robert George Uecker was born in Milwaukee on Jan. 26, 1934. Throughout his playing career, the back of Uecker’s baseball cards said he was born in 1935. Uecker never cared enough to fix the mistake until 2014, when he finally set the record straight on his 80th birthday.
Uecker’s father, August, was a Swiss immigrant who worked as a tool-and-die maker and mechanic. His mother, Mary Schultz, was born in Michigan and had a brother, Bernard, who played professional baseball in the Tigers organization. August and Mary settled on Milwaukee’s near north side and had three children who grew up surrounded by baseball. At St. Boniface grade school, Uecker was within walking distance of Borchert Field, home to the original iteration of the Milwaukee Brewers, a Minor League team that played from 1902-52.
Another baseball man might have picked that time to hang ’em up, but Uecker called three more seasons through 2024, when the Brewers briefly delayed celebrating a second consecutive division title in order to give Uecker time to join them from the radio booth. Two weeks later, when the season abruptly ended on Alonso’s stunning home run, Uecker gave the first hints that he had called his last inning. He circled the clubhouse to share goodbyes and laughs with the likes of Christian Yelich, who said through tears, “It’s special every time he’s around. You shouldn’t take it for granted.”
“When I met him, I was 18 and he was a little more than that, but he hadn’t reached teenage mentality yet,” said Robin Yount, the Hall of Famer who played all 20 of his big-league seasons for the Brewers. “But the connection that he creates with players, the camaraderie that he brings to the clubhouse, I’m sure it’s the same today. He was always accepted as one of us.”
Uecker’s sense of humor endured through his share of health scares over the years, leading to at least 14 surgeries. In 1991, when he was still throwing batting practice every day for the Brewers, he developed lower back pain and needed surgery for an aortal aneurysm in his abdominal area -- a potentially life-threating condition. In 2009, doctors found tumors on his pancreas, which they removed. Uecker was insulin-dependent for the rest of his life.
In 2010, his 40th year in the Brewers’ booth, he temporarily lost his vision while calling a game with then-partner Provus at Wrigley Field. An examination revealed a worsening of a leaky heart valve, which required a six-hour open-heart surgery. That fall, Uecker needed another open-heart surgery for a serious staph infection.
He had three surgeries in the 2021-22 offseason alone, first a replacement of a previous knee replacement, then two procedures for cancerous spots on his back. When cancer struck again in early 2023, Uecker informed only a small circle around him, even as the illness progressed.
“If you heard his voice in the stadium, you would never know that it was anything,” Attanasio said. “I think part of that is he just got energized being at the ballpark, being around the guys. ... But there were days he would go have radiation treatment, come to the ballpark and broadcast a game. It was unbelievable.”
Then there was 2017, when Uecker was changing a light bulb in an outdoor fixture at his home in Arizona and was bitten on the leg by a brown recluse spider. He needed a procedure to cut away the affected flesh, and the wound had to remain open to heal. Naturally, Uecker took photos with his cell phone to show friends with strong stomachs.
“We were laughing about it on the air,” Uecker said. “I said the spider didn’t ‘recluse’ himself from biting me. That was a good one.”
No matter the situation, Uecker always found a way to laugh.
Bud Selig once put Uecker’s impact like this: “The baseball announcer becomes a link to their fans. You go to Harry Caray, or Bob Prince in Pittsburgh, Mel Allen in New York. Vin Scully is legendary, a classic. That’s Bob Uecker here.”
There’s a lesson for everyone in Uecker’s charmed life.
“When I started [broadcasting], it was in the Major Leagues and I was scared to death. But that’s the way we did it, and it worked,” Uecker said at his 90th birthday. “The television stuff, the movie stuff, the different appearances, every time I did something, it was a first for me. It was fun. I had a good time and I met a lot of different people in baseball and show business.
“Sometimes you say yes to something and then you ask yourself later, ‘Why did I do this?’ But when you really think about the times you thought about saying no but you said yes, it turned out to be something pretty good. Everything I’ve done has been pretty good.”
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