MILWAUKEE — Bob Uecker will be back behind the microphone when the Milwaukee Brewers play their home opener Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins.
How heavy a broadcasting workload the 90-year-old Uecker will have for the rest of the season remains uncertain.
“Bob Uecker calling the first pitch of the Brewers home opener is the official start of summer in Milwaukee,” Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said Wednesday in a statement the team released on social media. “Bob expects to be back at the mic on April 2 to call the game on WTMJ and the network, and he’ll take it one day at a time after that.”
Uecker has been synonymous with Milwaukee baseball for over half a century. Uecker became the voice of the Brewers in 1971 and has been part of their broadcast team ever since, though he has limited himself to home radio assignments for the past several years.
Last season, Uecker maintained a regular pregame presence on the field and in the locker room. He even participated in the Brewers’ champagne-soaked, locker-room celebration after they clinched their National League Central title.
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.
Uecker had his 50th season of broadcasting baseball during that 2020 campaign.
Uecker played in the majors from 1962 to 1967 with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, but he became much more famous during his post-playing career.
He worked as a national color commentator for ABC and NBC baseball telecasts and earned fame beyond that of the usual broadcaster following his appearances in late-night talk shows, beer commercials and the movie “Major League.” He also starred in “Mr. Belvedere,” an ABC sitcom that aired over 100 episodes from 1985 to 1990.