Five years ago, almost to the date, I wrote a column about covering the NCAA College Football Playoff National Championship Game when LSU defeated Clemson. In the column, I wrote, “Remember that scene from Major League where Bob Uecker is fist bumping the air back and forth while in the press box? Well, that’s how I was feeling on the inside Monday night while in the auxiliary press box of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. I thought about doing it for real but remained stoic as possible because there’s no cheering in the press box.”
I will circle back to this in a moment.
I have been watching baseball games ever since I was in junior high. Back then was what I call the last heyday of baseball broadcasting.
Of course, there were Harry Carey and Steve Stone on WGN calling Chicago Cubs games. Carey was an artist at his craft, and Stone was the perfect foil.
Carey would enjoy saying players’ names backwards, and I will never forget how he said Kevin Orie backwards is Eiro Nivek. I will also remember laughing every time he would try to say Mark Grudzielanek. He would give up at times and just say “The G-Man.”
Then, on TBS, there were Pete Van Wieren, Skip Carey, and Don Sutton doing Atlanta Braves games. It was a treat hearing them describe Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz carve up batters on a nightly basis.
And, I cannot forget Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and Bob Costas on NBC. Costas calling Game 7 of the 1997 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and Florida Marlins still stands out as one of the best ever.
While these were national names because of television, a few local radio announcers were also famous and well recognized for their talents. There were Vin Scully with the Dodgers and Jim Hawthorne with LSU. And then there was Uecker with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Uecker was also well known for his appearance in Major League as Harry “Just a Bit Outside” Doyle. In my humble opinion, he is one of the most quotable characters of all time.
A few years ago, Marty Soileau and I went up to Green Bay, Wisc., to see LSU lose to Wisconsin. After the game, we drove down to Milwaukee to catch a Brewers game. We both had to take a picture with the Uecker statue that was at the top of the stadium. It was pretty special for me because the Brewers were playing the Cubs and that was the year the Cubs won the World Series.
I mention all this because Uecker died last week at the age of 90.
He will be hard to replace. Watching baseball games today on television or listening to them on the radio is not the same because the quality of the announcers today just is not the same as the announcers from years ago. Do not get me wrong, there are some who do a great job. But, how many of them can say names backwards while drinking a Budweiser in the press box?
I dabble in broadcasting, and I know I definitely pale in comparison guys like “The Ueck.” I wonder if people ever said he was abysmal on radio. If you know, you know.
Anyway, Bob Uecker is just another legendary broadcaster who is now in that big press box in the sky. Up there, the popcorn and Cracker Jacks never go stale, and the grass is always green.
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