There’s only one Bob Uecker – still a baseball comedian and Milwaukee’s famous ‘cheeseer’

Paul Molitor came to the Brewers as a rookie infielder in 1978 and stayed for 15 seasons – for glory, for downtime, but always with Uecker present on the field and in the clubhouse before a game.

“In those early years, Ueck was still throwing batting practice,” Molitor said. “In spring training in Arizona, he was there in uniform at 7:30 in the morning and he was always throwing the first round of hits.

“At the time, we also did a lot of commercial flights. The team boarded first, then the other passengers arrived. It was never, “Hey, there’s Rollie Fingers, there’s Robin Yount,” it was always, “There’s Ueck.” We love you, Ueck. »

Molitor said that in his opinion, Uecker possessed the best quality a celebrity could ask for: “He didn’t need to try hard to be funny.” He was naturally comical.

Uecker was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame for his broadcasting excellence in 2003. Haudricourt put it this way: “Ueck was the absolute master of self-deprecation. I was in Cooperstown when he received the Ford Frick Award. They told him: “You have 10 minutes. Ueck said, “I need 20.”

“And all those old Hall of Famers up there, the guys who come back every year and can’t stand the long speeches… they were rolling up and down the aisles, tears streaming down their faces, elbowing each other in the ribs.”