Beloved Brewers broadcaster Uecker dies at 90
Written by I Dig SportsLongtime Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker has died at the age of 90, the team announced Thursday.
Uecker served as the Brewers' radio announcer since 1971, a job that earned him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame as the Ford C. Frick Award winner in 2003.
The Milwaukee native was so beloved in his hometown that when the Brewers reached the National League Championship Series in 2018, the team had him throw out the first pitch for Game 1.
We are heartbroken to announce that Brewers icon & Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Uecker passed away today at the age of 90 pic.twitter.com/EJRBC8Cjj4
Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) January 16, 2025
Uecker may be best known for his role in the 1989 movie "Major League." Playing Cleveland Indians announcer Harry Doyle, Uecker had some of the movie's most memorable lines, such as "Juuuust a bit outside." He reprised the role for two sequels.
He also made a number of appearances on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," starred in the 1980s sitcom "Mr. Belvedere" and had a series of Miller Lite commercials in the 1970s and 1980s in which he played "Mr. Baseball," a nickname that stuck.
"The Tonight Shows and doing that stuff was easy," Uecker said in 2018 before his Game 1 pitch. "Doing play-by-play [was hard], because I kept thinking about my friends here in Milwaukee. Guys that I grew up with, listening to the game, and here I am doing play-by-play, you know. And what they were thinking? That's what I was thinking, what they thought of me."
Along with his famed broadcasting career, Uecker played six seasons in the majors as a catcher for the Braves, Cardinals and Phillies. He was a career .200 hitter -- his biggest hit being a home run off Sandy Koufax, a moment Uecker says he always apologized to the Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Famer for.
The Brewers have honored him with two statues, one that's outside American Family Field and another in the back row of the terrace level, a nod to the old Miller Lite commercial in which he said, "I must be in the front row!" as he was escorted to the back of a stadium.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.