Friday, January 17th 2025, 5:49 pm
The world of sports lost one of the all-time voices with the passing of Bob Uecker at the age of 90. Uecker was best known as a comedian and broadcaster who earned his nickname "Mr. Baseball" during one of his numerous appearances on Johnny Carson’s late-night show. The sports and entertainment world has shared numerous stories over the past 24 hours in remembrance of Ueck. Bob Carpenter, who calls Tulsa home, has been calling Major League Baseball games for over 40 years. Carpenter shared several stories about the one and a million, Bob Uecker.
What made Uecker so good?
He was the every man of baseball. You know, if you and I got a chance to play the big leagues, we'd probably hit .020 and instead of .200 You know, Ueck was a 200 hitter and people thought that was a great accomplishment when Michael Jordan hit 200 in the minor leagues in one year back in the 90s. Ueck represented being a player, being a broadcaster, but also being a fan. You know, that hilarious commercial, I think it was filmed a Dodger Stadium where, you know, he's in the seats and the usher kicks him out. He goes, oh, it must be down to the front row. Well, the next scene, he's in like the third row from the top and the upper deck. He missed the tag, he missed the tag. You know, that was Uecker. He was the every man. He was like you, he was like me, he was like a kid at the ballpark, and I think that was Bob's appeal. And I I really consider it an honor to have gotten to know him personally.
What was your first memory of Bob?
My first exposure to him had nothing to do with meeting him, but I was 11 years old when the Cardinals beat the Yankees in the 64 World Series, and, you know, pop things were different back then. They had a marching band on the field before a game one of the World Series and Bob went and grabbed the tuba guy and took his tuba away from him. I don't know if he knew how to play the tuba, but he was standing on the warning track out in front of the leftfield bleachers that famous picture and there he is that big old thing wrapped around him and he's playing the tuba. So that was my early recollection of Bob on a Cardinal's championship team.
Making Uecker laugh
You know, we'd go to Milwaukee, whether I was with the Cardinals or the Nationals, and Ueck's booth, the door to his booth was always open. You could go in there 10 minutes before the game started. He'd be laying back in that easy chair his with this ball cap on,"Hey, Carpy, how you doing? " You know, he had a nickname for everybody. and I gotta tell you, a personal story, my favorite, as far as Yuk goes with me. We happen to be in Milwaukee. I'm think it was seven or eight years ago when he had his heart problem and he had to miss a couple of months. Well, his first series back happened to be the weekend we were there, so I ran into Bob and I said, you how you doing, man? He goes, "Hey Carpy, I'm feeling great." I looked at him, I said, well, you look like crap. And I'm not sure that's the word I use, but it was something like that. He busted out laughing, and it occurred to me later, I made Bob Uecker laugh. You know, he was self deprecating in his humor. He liked it when you would bust his chops because he would certainly bust yours.
Where does Bob Uecker rank with other voices of the game?
In terms of connecting with fans, Bob Uecker is probably tied for first with Harry Carey and Vince Scully in that respect. guys who just you knew when you heard them say three syllables that it was time for Dodger baseball, it was time for the Cubs or it was time in his case for the Milwaukee Brewers.
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