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Posted on 1/16/25 at 5:07 pm to Packer
I "met" Ueck once, when I was a kid, at the Milwaukee airport. I asked if I could have his autograph, he had a look on his face like he smelled dog shite, signed my piece of paper and I went on my way. He wasn't exactly approachable and affable if you were a member of the general public.
That said it's a sad day in Milwaukee and it sucks that he won't be around to call the final out of the World Series championship season. He was one of the GOAT announcers, the likes of which we'll never see again.
That said it's a sad day in Milwaukee and it sucks that he won't be around to call the final out of the World Series championship season. He was one of the GOAT announcers, the likes of which we'll never see again.
Posted on 1/16/25 at 5:33 pm to BamaGradinTn
quote:
Maybe. Did you ever see him play?
No I didn't see him play.. Not that big of a baseball fan.. But that was always his joke and I guess it was real... The way he delivered his jokes was masterful..
Posted on 1/16/25 at 5:59 pm to Mizz-SEC
Weird day but we knew it was coming, People outside of Wisconsin got to know him as Harry Doyle and George Owens or the funny guy from Miller Lite commercials. For so many of us who grew up in Wisconsin, the movies, commercials, and TV shows were just “something else” he did.
Today I interacted with kids as young as 9 who were talking about Uecker and a woman in her mid 90’s who were talking about him. Everyone was saddened by this news.
There will never be a sports figure as beloved in the state of Wisconsin as Bob Uecker. For so many of us, outside of immediate family, the voice we’ve heard the most in our lives was his, By the age of two my now 9 year old daughter recognized that voice and iconic home run call using it whenever she’d leave a room. She picked it up because she’d hear it on the radio. You didn’t tune in to listen to a baseball game. You’d tune in to laugh for 2 and a half to 3 hours 162 times a year and there was a game in the background.
Here is quintessential Uecker. Just under 15 minutes of him and his broadcast partner talking about a furry convention. You’d get stuff like this during each game he called.
Today I interacted with kids as young as 9 who were talking about Uecker and a woman in her mid 90’s who were talking about him. Everyone was saddened by this news.
There will never be a sports figure as beloved in the state of Wisconsin as Bob Uecker. For so many of us, outside of immediate family, the voice we’ve heard the most in our lives was his, By the age of two my now 9 year old daughter recognized that voice and iconic home run call using it whenever she’d leave a room. She picked it up because she’d hear it on the radio. You didn’t tune in to listen to a baseball game. You’d tune in to laugh for 2 and a half to 3 hours 162 times a year and there was a game in the background.
Here is quintessential Uecker. Just under 15 minutes of him and his broadcast partner talking about a furry convention. You’d get stuff like this during each game he called.
Posted on 1/16/25 at 6:32 pm to BamaGradinTn
He didn’t lead the league in errors, he led the league in passed balls in 1967. He led the league in passed balls because he was Phil Niekro’s personal catcher, specifically because he didn’t mind a few passed balls and chasing after missed knuckleballs.
The tradeoff for him being willing to eat all those passed balls was Niekro leading the league in ERA and starting a career as a starting pitcher that landed him in Cooperstown.
Context is important …
The tradeoff for him being willing to eat all those passed balls was Niekro leading the league in ERA and starting a career as a starting pitcher that landed him in Cooperstown.
Context is important …
Posted on 1/16/25 at 6:35 pm to Mizz-SEC
Posted on 1/16/25 at 7:55 pm to InkStainedWretch
quote:
He didn’t lead the league in errors, he led the league in passed balls in 1967. He led the league in passed balls because he was Phil Niekro’s personal catcher, specifically because he didn’t mind a few passed balls and chasing after missed knuckleballs.
The tradeoff for him being willing to eat all those passed balls was Niekro leading the league in ERA and starting a career as a starting pitcher that landed him in Cooperstown.
Context is important …
Here's some "context" for you.
Passed balls are not counted as errors and do not impact a player's fielding percentage.
LINK
Uecker had 11 errors in 1967, and separate from those he had 27 passed balls.
LINK
In 1966, Jake Gibbs of the Yankees had 16 errors and Paul Cassnova of the Indians had 15. Uecker was next with 11...making him the NL leader in errors by a catcher. Those 11 errors resulted in a .972 fielding pct.
What was the "context" for him hitting .147? Was he trying to stay off the basepaths so he could save his energy for chasing balls to the backstop?
You were right...and you were also wrong. Uecker did lead the league in passed balls...and he also led the league in errors by a catcher. Unless catching knuckleballs caused him to throw balls into center field, one has nothing to do with the other.
And he was not a good MLB baseball player by any stretch of the imagination, which is why that was his last season.
This post was edited on 1/16/25 at 8:03 pm
Posted on 1/16/25 at 9:05 pm to BamaGradinTn
You also are right in a sense because I had forgotten he played for the Phillies too in 1967 and I didn’t look at his total numbers for that year when I inaccurately stated he didn’t lead the league in errors.
BTW, his errors that year were three bad throws on steals of second, two bad throws trying to nail runners advancing on wild pitches, one misplay on a sac bunt, one bad throw on a sacrifice bunt, one bad throw to first on a grounder in front of the plate and one dropped foul popup.
He was not a good player, although you seem to be piling on with that, but to me it would have been irrelevant if he’d hit .046 for the Braves because of what he meant to the career of Phil Niekro, who is one of my two favorite pitchers who ever lived (the other one is Sandy Koufax), and who even though he’s in the HoF (and he should have been a first-ballot choice) is to this day the most underrated and disrespected historically great pitcher in the history of the sport.
Again, if not for Uecker, there would have been no Niekro, because Joe Torre who was Atlanta’s No. 1 catcher, didn’t want anything to do with the knuckleball (Bob Tillman … BA .220, OBP .278 and SA .301 … was Niekro’s personal catcher in 1968 before the Braves sent Torre to St. Louis).
Niekro and Torre never really got along after that and Niekro carried a grudge against Torre to the grave for cutting him after 1983, but the last phone conversation he had before he died was with Uecker, who served a valuable purpose in 1967.
BTW, his errors that year were three bad throws on steals of second, two bad throws trying to nail runners advancing on wild pitches, one misplay on a sac bunt, one bad throw on a sacrifice bunt, one bad throw to first on a grounder in front of the plate and one dropped foul popup.
He was not a good player, although you seem to be piling on with that, but to me it would have been irrelevant if he’d hit .046 for the Braves because of what he meant to the career of Phil Niekro, who is one of my two favorite pitchers who ever lived (the other one is Sandy Koufax), and who even though he’s in the HoF (and he should have been a first-ballot choice) is to this day the most underrated and disrespected historically great pitcher in the history of the sport.
Again, if not for Uecker, there would have been no Niekro, because Joe Torre who was Atlanta’s No. 1 catcher, didn’t want anything to do with the knuckleball (Bob Tillman … BA .220, OBP .278 and SA .301 … was Niekro’s personal catcher in 1968 before the Braves sent Torre to St. Louis).
Niekro and Torre never really got along after that and Niekro carried a grudge against Torre to the grave for cutting him after 1983, but the last phone conversation he had before he died was with Uecker, who served a valuable purpose in 1967.
This post was edited on 1/16/25 at 9:14 pm
Posted on 1/16/25 at 10:42 pm to Lsuhoohoo
quote:
The radio era of baseball voices is coming to a close. Were not attached in memories to our current radio guys like the era before TV broadcasts were widely available.
Eh, there are still some great ones out there. Tom Hamilton from Cleveland is fantastic and also has a bit of that nasally midwestern accent. He’s also from Wisconsin.
I prefer the MLB audio. Those guys paint a better picture of the game than if I watch on TV, oddly enough.
Posted on 1/17/25 at 2:12 am to InkStainedWretch
quote:
He was not a good player, although you seem to be piling on with that,
Again, as you said, context is important. If you go back and read my original post, you'll see my point that had he been even an average baseball player that long ago would have been forgotten, he still likely would have been playing in 1970, the Brewers would have hired someone else, and Uecker may very well have never become the national treasure that he was.
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