MLB legendary announcer, ‘Mr. Baseball,’ Bob Uecker dies

The legendary voice of the Milwaukee Brewers for 50 years has died. Bob Uecker was 90 years old.

The team announced his death on Thursday, writing on X, “We are heartbroken to announce that Brewers icon & Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Uecker passed away today at the age of 90.”

Uecker’s family said he had small cell lung cancer since 2023, The Associated Press reported.

“Even in the face of this challenge, his enthusiasm for life was always present, never allowing his spirit to falter,” his family said in a statement.

Uecker was born in Milwaukee and signed his first contract with his hometown team the Milwaukee Braves in 1956. It took until 1962 for him to make it to the majors, lasting six seasons. Over his short career, he averaged a .200 and had a total of 14 home runs, the AP reported.

He was part of the St. Louis Cardinals team when they won the World Series in 1964. He also had a stint with the Philadelphia Phillies and ended his on-field career with the Atlanta Braves, according to Baseball Reference.

Uecker would joke that he had two career highlights as a player, “I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets,” the AP reported.

Former Brewers owner and MLB commissioner Bud Selig hired him as a scout, musing that Uecker’s first scouting report had stains from mashed potatoes and gravy, the AP said.

Selig moved Uecker to the booth, becoming the voice of the Brewers, two years after the team’s move from Seattle to Milwaukee.

That’s where he found his niche in the announcer booth and as a comedian.

“There’s no single person in this franchise’s history who has been as iconic and as important as Bob Uecker,” Jeff Levering, a Brewers’ broadcaster, said.

It was a job Uecker adored.

“To be able to do a game each and every day throughout the summer and talk to people every day at 6:30 for a night game, you become part of people’s families,” Uecker said, according to the AP. “I know that because I get mail from people that tell me that. That’s part of the reward for being here, just to be recognized by the way you talk, the way you describe a game, whatever.”

Uecker was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and given the Ford C. Frick Award in 2003.

Uecker earned the nickname “Mr. Baseball” by Johnny Carson whose “Tonight Show” Uecker appeared on more than 100 times, not as an announcer but as a comedian.

He got his comedic start opening for Don Rickles at an Atlanta nightclub in 1969, the AP reported. That’s when he caught the eye of the club’s owner Al Hirt who worked with Carson to get Uecker on the show.

He became a pitchman for Miller Light beer and became an actor on “Mr. Belvedere” and eventually starred in “Major League” and its sequel “Major League II” as the announcer who made the “just a bit outside” line famous.

“I’m part of American folklore, I guess,” Uecker told the AP in 2003. “But I’m not a Hollywood guy. Baseball and broadcasting are in my blood.”

He just completed his 54th season announcing for the Brewers.

“Ueck was the light of the Brewers, the soundtrack of our summers, the laughter in our hearts, and his passing is a profound loss. He was the heart and soul of Wisconsin and a dear friend. Bob loved people; his presence warmed every room and he had a way of welcoming all of us into his world as if we were lifelong friends,” the team said, according to WTMJ.

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