Here’s to Ueck! Cheers to so many years of Brewer memories

Most people hope when they die, friends, family and other loved ones will leave flowers at their graves or memorials.

We do things a little differently back home.

Just an hour after the news of his death, a single, unopened Miller Lite sat at the base of the Bob Uecker statue outside right field at American Family field, or more affectionately, Miller Park.

It was a true tribute to one of the greatest radio broadcasters to ever put on a headset from the state, city, fanbase and team that he meant so much to.

It’s been just a little over two weeks since it was announced that Bob Uecker died after battling a silent affair with small-cell lung cancer.

While it the news of Ueck’s death didn’t come with much surprise — he would have turned 91 on Jan. 26 — it’s hard to imagine what a season of Milwaukee Brewers baseball is going to look, or rather, sound like, without him. 

I, admittedly, hadn’t listed to the radio broadcast nearly as much as many of my peers had. I was fortunate enough to get to attend a large amount of home games, and often would watch the road series on TV.

I actually only knew who Bob Uecker was because of the statue of him at the top of the stadium in section 422. The statue was an homage to the 1970s and 1980s Miller Lite “All Stars” commercials in which Uecker sits at a game and an usher asks him to get up. “I must be in the front row!” he responds before being moved to the nosebleeds.

Once I got to college and the TV broadcasting rights went to Bally Sports, I started to tune into the radio broadcasts significantly more. Then I got the opportunity to work for Good Karma Brands, the company that owns WTMJ and produced the broadcast that featured Uecker.

I became hooked.

So, I have been listening to Ueck on the radio more often these past six years, even if I was still watching on a muted TV. The call I will remember the most came in a situation just like that.

As a college freshman in 2019 when the Brewers had to play the Chicago Cubs in a game 163 to decide the National League Central Division champion, I had the TV tuned to the game while my phone played the radio broadcast of the game. There was something special about that experience, sitting in my dorm room, watching Anthony Rizzo pop the ball up to Keon Broxton in right field while Ueck made the call, “Swinging, fly ball into right-center. Broxton is there! And they’re the champions! They have done it!”

It’s a call I’ll remember forever.

 Ultimately, the writing was on the wall. He had slowed down in the final seasons, only calling home games and sometimes making the short trip to Chicago.

Yet, it feels like I’ve wasted my time. Not the time I’ve spent listening to him these past years, but rather, that for the first 18 or so years of my life I hadn’t tuned in to the radio.

I am lucky enough to live in the time of the internet. If I want to hear that old familiar voice, all I have to do is fire up YouTube to listen to some of his greatest calls. If I want to take it a step further, I can dust off a copy of the movie “Major League” to hear some of his best quips.

But my heart aches to know that I’ll never again get to hear that iconic “Get up! Get up! Get out of here and gone!” he would belt after a Milwaukee home run live.

While I will never be able to tune in to listen to Ueck on the call again, his fingerprints will be left on the Brewers forever. From his statue outside of right field, the Mr. Baseball   slab on the American Family Field Walk of Fame, his plaque on the Milwaukee Brewers Wall of Honor and his “I must be in the front row” statue above section 422, it will be hard to attend a game without getting a glimpse of the legend.

But learning of Uecker’s death called to mind the final words the legend ever spoke on a broadcast. And with the newfound knowledge that he was aware the 4-2 loss to the New York Mets in the Wildcard round would likely be the last game of his broadcasting career, his final words from that night ring true all the more.

“I’m telling ya, that one … had some sting on it.”