Uecker returns to booth, consoles Crew after WC loss

MILWAUKEE -- Devin Williams was at his locker, head down, the Brewers’ season over after Pete Alonso hit one of Williams’ signature changeups over the fence in Milwaukee’s 4-2 loss to the Mets. Bob Uecker, the Brewers’ beloved broadcaster who is 90 years old but is as much a part of the team as he was when Paul Molitor and Robin Yount had the corner lockers, approached to wrap an arm around the hurting player.

Uecker said two words, and while you’ll sometimes see them on an off-color bumper sticker, they’re not fit for print.

It’s exactly why Brewers players have always loved him.

“It was sad, just hugging him today after the loss, because he’s cheering for us, too,” said longtime Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta. “It was crazy, because he told us a joke, too, right after a sad moment. He always brings something. You never know with him.

“But we love him. I used to always take pictures with him and I have a lot of videos on my phone of me and him. I love him.”

Uecker has set his own schedule in recent seasons, especially this season, which is exactly how it should be when you’re 90 and still calling Major League Baseball on the radio with the best of them. He didn’t call any innings of Games 1 and 2 of the Brewers’ Wild Card Series against the Mets, though he was there both nights, and did his usual pregame show with manager Pat Murphy prior to Game 2.

But Uecker was back on the mic for Game 3, giving Wisconsin’s baseball fans another dose of highlights called by the voice of Wisconsin summers. He called the first two innings of a scoreless game that would remain so into the seventh, and also made the call in the ninth as Milwaukee's postseason run came to an end.

“I was a little under the weather for a couple of days, but I feel good tonight, and good to be back with you guys, too,” Uecker told listeners as broadcast partner Jeff Levering took over the call in the top of the third.

Being with the guys has always been the best part, Uecker always says. The guys obviously feel the same way. This year, like every year since Christian Yelich and Peralta arrived in 2018 and the Brewers began a run of qualifying for the playoffs in six of seven seasons, players have voted Uecker a full playoff share, according to one veteran who was in the meeting. He’s always donated the money to charity.

For an hour on Thursday, a group gathered just outside the weight room to share hugs and tears. When Yelich made it to his locker, he had tears in his eyes.

“It’s special every time he’s around. You shouldn’t take it for granted,” Yelich said. “He means a lot to this place. Anybody that’s spent any amount of time here knows how special Bob is.”

“I have a lot of great memories in this clubhouse with a lot of great personalities,” said Willy Adames, a free agent in the coming weeks. “Like Bob. He just made me cry out there.”

Levering and Uecker’s fellow broadcast partners Lane Grindle and Josh Maurer would have all liked to see the Brewers go further into this postseason, just like the fan holding a sign near the Brewers' dugout as Mets leadoff man Francisco Lindor dug into the batter’s box for the start of the game.

It said it all: “Do it 4 Uecker.”

The Brewers have been trying to do just that since Uecker moved into the Brewers’ radio booth in 1971. In the years since he’s done commercials, starred in the ABC sitcom “Mr. Belvedere,” hosted Saturday Night Live and brought the phrase, “Juuuust a bit outside” into baseball’s lexicon as fictional broadcaster Harry Doyle in the “Major League” film franchise. But he always came back to the radio booth to call Brewers baseball.

Just like he did Thursday night.

“This is home,” Uecker said.