'He’ll be with us': Uecker's legendary presence felt by Crew in home opener

MILWAUKEE -- Bob Uecker was dearly missed during Monday’s Brewers home opener, an 11-1 loss to the Royals that the team’s beloved radio broadcaster would have somehow made entertaining. With Uecker on the mic, sometimes the bad ballgames were the most entertaining.

And yet he was everywhere.

Uecker’s autograph graced the outfield grass at American Family Field. One banner signed by thousands of fans hung above the press box proclaiming, “We’ll miss you, Bob!” and another stretched across a section of the upper deck with Uecker’s signature line from his Miller Lite ads: “I must be in the front row!”

The Brewers ran a pregame video tribute and moment of silence, with ceremonial first pitches from the Wounded Warrior Project and the ALS Association, two causes dear to Uecker’s heart. Players wore Uecker patches on their shoulders, as they will all season. Front office men wore plaid sport coats including Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio, who also donned one of the “Ueck” T-shirts available in the team store, with proceeds going to Uecker’s preferred charities.

Center fielder Garrett Mitchell’s tribute was personal. The two had a special connection as diabetics, and they spoke often about the ways they managed the disease. After Uecker’s passing in January following a battle with small cell lung cancer, Mitchell made custom Nike cleats with Uecker’s face on one foot and his signature home run call on the other. He wore them Opening Day at Yankee Stadium and again on Monday against the Royals.

“It’s just another way of having his light shine through,” Mitchell said. “He was such a supporter of the guys, and we always felt that. People have stories about him in general, but it’s nice to be able to say that not only did I know him, but he was a friend.”

The same was true for the longest-tenured Brewers position player, Christian Yelich, who wore a custom plaid sport coat on Opening Day. It was a happy coincidence, Yelich said, that the jacket so closely resembled the one Uecker wore in press box scenes in the film “Major League.”

The Brewers will spend all season remembering Uecker, who had been broadcasting their games on radio since 1971 and always came home, even as his fame grew via appearances on "The Tonight Show," in the “Mr. Belvedere” television sitcom and the “Major League” films.

“It’s definitely different without him here,” Yelich said. “He’s a big part of this place, especially for guys that have been here for a while. … Obviously, we all miss him and wish he was here, but I think he’ll be with us for this season and many seasons going forward.”

“You can’t put the uniform on and not think about him,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who recorded a pregame show with Uecker each day that Uecker called a game. “We had a job to do for five minutes recording the show, and then there’s just a friend coming to talk to you with all the knowledge and great stories. What a beautiful spirit he was. This was his home, you know?”

The Brewers are hosting an invitation-only celebration of Uecker’s life on Wednesday night at the Miller High Life Theater in downtown Milwaukee, and are still working on details of a public celebration of life planned for American Family Field in August.

Uecker loved his hometown team even when times were tough, like they are right now. With the starting rotation torn to tatters by injuries, right-hander Elvin Rodriguez made a spot start and fell into a 3-0 hole against the Royals in the top of the first inning, then saw the deficit grow to 10-0 by the seventh against a call-up, Grant Anderson, who was just summoned to Milwaukee on Sunday night after Aaron Civale went down with a hamstring injury, and didn’t arrive until Monday at 3 a.m.

The Brewers were the only team in MLB without a four-game losing streak last season, but now they’re 0-4 with a 12.27 ERA and another unproven pitcher -- right-hander Chad Patrick, set to start on Wednesday.

“I want to make something clear to everybody in this room,” Murphy said during his postgame press conference. “If you think there isn’t energy, or if you think these guys aren’t trying or aren’t going at it, trust me, they are hurting as much as anybody who loves the Brewers is hurting.”

It’s the sort of situation in which Uecker’s sense of humor would help. The Brewers have allowed 47 runs so far this season, tying the 1954 Cardinals for the most runs allowed through four games in the modern era (since 1900).

Uecker’s humor would have been welcomed on Monday, after the Brewers took it on the chin for three straight games at Yankee Stadium to open the season.

“My sons are much better at imitating him,” Attanasio said before giving it a try. “He would have said, ‘We’ll be alright, boss.’ Because we forget -- the Yankees came here last year and did almost the same thing, and they wound up winning 94 games and we won 93.

“So, I think we’ll be OK. That’s what Ueck would say. He was always upbeat and he never lost that optimistic view of life.”