MILWAUKEE -- The thing about Bob Uecker, more than his skill calling play-by-play for his hometown team for 54 years or tickling the nation’s funny bone on stage and screen, was that he was always one of the Brewers.
Hall of Famer Ted Simmons remembers how, when he came to Milwaukee via trade for the 1981 season, Uecker’s own history as a catcher was critical to learning a new pitching staff. Rickie Weeks remembers an off-day fishing trip. Brandon Woodruff remembers coming into the clubhouse to rehab an oblique injury and finding Uecker swimming laps in the resistance pool.
For as long as anyone could remember, he was one of them. And on Sunday, as the Brewers and their fans filled American Family Field to remember everything he gave them, the players were all Ueck. It was right there on their backs.
For Sunday’s stinging 4-3 loss to the Giants, every Brewers player and coach wore jerseys with “UECK” stitched across the shoulders. Those jerseys are being auctioned off on MLB.com with all proceeds going to three of Uecker’s favorite charities: Wounded Warrior Project, the ALS Association and the Bob Uecker Chair in Pancreatic Cancer Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
The auction opened at Sunday’s first pitch and runs through Sept. 8. Fans can go to Brewers.Auctions.MLB.com to bid.
“God, I wish we could have got that for Ueck,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, whose club was one out away before Giants left fielder Heliot Ramos erased Milwaukee’s 3-2 lead with a two-run single, handing Milwaukee closer Trevor Megill his third blown save in his past four outings. “What a great crowd, a great turnout to honor such an incredible man. I didn’t think there was any way that the baseball gods would bestow this on us.”
The Brewers are 3-6 since the end of their franchise-record 14-game winning streak and while they still have the best record in the Majors, “we’re not trending in the right direction,” Murphy said.
It’s the sort of situation that always called for Uecker, who never said a bad word about a player as long as Woodruff has been around. Woodruff, who arrived in 2017 and knew Uecker longer than any other current Brewers player, was reminded of Uecker’s impact while driving into work on Sunday morning and finding long lines of cars waiting to enter the parking lots for a celebration of life that has been in the works since Uecker’s death in January following a battle with small-cell lung cancer.
“You know, we think we’re rock stars here, some more than others,” Woodruff said. “But, like, he was truly a spectacle here. You can’t get on his level.”
Woodruff was in the small circle of friends who knew Uecker had been sick for several years, often receiving chemotherapy treatment hours before he would pick himself up off the mat to cover a ballgame. Others in that circle were on hand in Milwaukee on Sunday to celebrate Uecker’s life, including Hall of Famers Simmons, Robin Yount, George Brett and MLB Commissioner Emeritus and Brewers founder Bud Selig. So were longtime friends Bob Costas and Brian Anderson, who emceed the pregame portion of Sunday’s program. Brewers star Christian Yelich spoke, then delivered a pair of hits, including a tying single.
As he has a knack to do, it was the greatest Brewers player, Yount, who delivered the most poignant moment. He described meeting Uecker at Spring Training in 1974, when Yount was a first-round Draft pick about to be an Opening Day shortstop at 18 years of age, and becoming a friend until the day Uecker passed in January. The thing he’ll remember most, Yount said, is for all his fame, Uecker never changed a bit.
“Right to the end," Yount said, "he told me he wasn't afraid of dying. He just didn't want to be there when it happened."
When Yount caught the ceremonial first pitch, flanked by the whole Brewers team in their “Ueck” jerseys, it was perfect.
Juuuust a bit outside.
Throughout the ballpark, items from Uecker’s personal collection were on display for fans to browse, including his 1962 rookie contract with the Milwaukee Braves, an assortment of his trademark plaid jackets from his more than 100 appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and the scorebook from his final game -- the Brewers’ heartbreaking loss to Pete Alonso and the Mets in Game 3 of the 2024 NL Wild Card Series.
Costas reflected on the power of Uecker’s final words on the air, but Sunday was a celebration, so Uecker’s friends also focused on where it all began. After a career as a backup catcher with the Braves, Cardinals, Phillies and Braves again (this time in Atlanta), Uecker started as a Brewers scout and public ambassador before moving to the radio booth in 1971.
“To begin with, it was beginner’s luck,” Selig said. “It turned out to be great luck. And he made himself – I mean this sincerely – he made himself into a great broadcaster.”
“To this day,” said Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, who took the reins from the Selig family for the 2005 season, “it’s hard for me to comprehend that he’s gone. So I can imagine what the family feels.”
Uecker’s voice may be gone, but his memory will live on at the ballpark. The Brewers on Sunday rechristened the broadcast wing of the press box as the Bob Uecker Broadcast Center, and they updated his medallion high above center field next to Yount’s and Paul Molitor’s retired numbers.
“It means a lot. That guy was very special to us,” Megill said. “I’m just sad I couldn’t get it done for him today.”