Bob Uecker
Bob Uecker
Robert George "Bob" Ueckeris a retired American Major League Baseball player, later a sportscaster, comedian and actor. Uecker was given the title of "Mr. Baseball" by TV talk show host Johnny Carson. Since 1971, Uecker has served as a play-by-play announcer for Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts. Uecker was honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame with its 2003 Ford C. Frick Award for his broadcasting career...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth26 January 1935
CityMilwaukee, WI
CountryUnited States of America
They broke it to me gently. The manager came up to me before a game and told me they didn't allow visitors in the clubhouse.
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.
Let's face it. Umpiring is not an easy or happy way to make a living. In the abuse they suffer, and the pay they get for it, you see an imbalance that can only be explained by their need to stay close to a game they can't resist.
Baseball hasn't forgotten me. I go to a lot of old-timers games and I haven't lost a thing. I sit in the bullpen and let people throw things at me. Just like old times.
Anyone with talent can play in the Major Leagues; for someone like me to stay around as long as I did, I think that's a much greater acheivement.
My kids used to do things to aggravate me, too. I'd take them to a game, and they'd want to come home with a different player.
I would order a dozen bats and there were times they'd come back with handles at each end.
Before broadcasting for 50-some years, I did TV, played 10 years in the big leagues, won a world championship - and played a big part in that, too, letting the Cardinals inject me with hepatitis. Takes a big man to do that.
Any teammate of mine that had a kid and a boy that was capable of playing baseball, I think I set a terrific example of 'Don't do this' and 'Don't do that.' And that's one of the things that I'm most proud of.
Sporting goods companies pay me not to endorse their products.
I was acting when I was playing baseball.
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.
You throw batting practice, you warm up pitchers, you sit and cheer. You do whatever you have to do to stay on the team.
Sure, women sportswriters look when they're in the clubhouse. Read their stories. How else do you explain a capital letter in the middle of a word?