{"id":7953,"date":"2025-01-17T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7953"},"modified":"2025-01-17T17:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T17:30:00","slug":"honoring-veterans-army-veteran-bob-uecker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7953","title":{"rendered":"Honoring Veterans: Army Veteran Bob Uecker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-01-17T17:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

Bob Uecker was born in January 1934 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to a Swiss immigrant father, Gus, and mother, Mary, from Michigan. The eldest of three, Bob spent his youth playing baseball and cheering for the hometown Milwaukee Brewers, then of the \u201cAmerican Association.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little is known of Uecker\u2019s military service, but after leaving high school<\/a>, he enlisted in the Army in 1954 and appears to have spent the next two years playing baseball at Forts Leonard Wood and Belvoir, in Missouri and Virginia.<\/p>\n

When his enlistment ended, the aspiring catcher signed with MLB\u2019s then-named Milwaukee Braves. The future broadcast Hall of Famer wasn\u2019t known for his in-game skill\u2014behind the plate or at it. After several years in the minor leagues, he played for four MLB teams from 1962 to 1967\u2014winning a World Championship with the St. Louis Cardinals as a backup catcher in 1964. <\/p>\n

After the 1967 season in which he led the National League in passed balls and catcher errors, and with a career .200 batting average and -1.0 career WAR<\/a>, Uecker retired. Bud Selig, a Milwaukee native and future MLB commissioner, who was the then-owner of the Brewers, hired Uecker as a scout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst scout in baseball history,\u201d Selig said of Uecker in September 2021. \u201cMy instinct told me he could be a hell of an announcer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selig was right.<\/p>\n

Beginning in 1971, Uecker would spend the next 54 years calling games for his beloved Brewers. \u201cMr. Baseball,\u201d Johnny Carson nicknamed him, after scores of appearances on the comedian\u2019s late night \u201cTonight Show,\u201d would also go on to film TV commercials, host \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d and star in the TV comedy, \u201cMr. Belvedere.\u201d Outside of Milwaukee, Uecker was perhaps best known for his role as the lovably intoxicated exaggeration-of-himself broadcaster Harry Doyle, in the 1989 baseball comedy \u201cMajor League.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uecker was enshrined in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, the National Radio Hall of Fame, the celebrity wing of the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame, and as the 2003 Ford C. Frick Award recipient by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Uecker, 90, died at his home in Wisconsin on January 16, 2025. <\/p>\n

We honor his service.<\/p>\n

Nominate a Veteran for Honoring Veterans<\/h2>\n

Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? VA\u2019s Honoring Veterans social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his\/her service.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to nominate a Veteran. All it takes is an email to newmedia@va.gov with as much information as you can put together, along with some good photos. Visit our blog post about nominating<\/a> to learn how to create the best submission.<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s Honoring Veterans Spotlight honors the service of Army Veteran and legendary MLB player and broadcaster Bob Uecker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-veteran-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nHonoring Veterans: Army Veteran Bob Uecker - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week\u2019s Honoring Veterans Spotlight honors the service of Army Veteran and legendary MLB player and broadcaster Bob Uecker.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7953\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Honoring Veterans: Army Veteran Bob Uecker - 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