Brewers owner recalls Uecker's plan to quit in '05: 'He was going to move on'

PHOENIX ¨C Did Bob Uecker almost call it a career as a broadcaster 20 years ago? It would have meant no ¡°get up, get up, get out of here, gone!¡± in 2008 when Ryan Braun¡¯s home run sent the Brewers to their first postseason berth in 26 years, no breathless Uecker calling Nyjer Morgan¡¯s walk-off single in the 2011 NLDS, no Christian Yelich highlights, and none of the magic of a 90-year-old Uecker calling 20-year-old Jackson Chourio¡¯s first career home run last year.

All of those moments might have gone to another voice, Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio learned last month from Uecker¡¯s son after the legendary broadcaster passed away.

• Celebrating Bob Uecker

¡°I remember my first meeting,¡± Attanasio said, thinking back to January 2005. ¡°It was in Scottsdale at The Phoenician [Resort] and he wanted no ¨C you talk about humans as they are versus what they are on paper, and on paper, I looked like some finance guy from the big city. The last person he¡¯d want to meet, and he kept saying no.

¡°Wendy Selig-Prieb [club president at the time] got him to agree to spend 30 minutes for a drink with me before I was about to be approved as an owner the next day, and we spent three hours. He was fiercely loyal, but he was also fiercely independent and genuine, and he didn¡¯t have time for anyone who wasn¡¯t.

¡°I didn¡¯t know this, but Bob Jr. shared with me after Bob passed that during that whole period of time, Bob thought that was it. He was going to move on and do something else. All he really knew in terms of working in baseball was working for Bud and the Selig family, and maybe it was time for him to do something else. It was to the point that he¡¯d actually convinced himself that that¡¯s what he was going to do. I didn¡¯t know that.

¡°But I guess that explains part of our interview, because it was an interview.¡±

Uecker stayed, and baseball fans are grateful he did. The Brewers are working with the family on ways to honor Uecker¡¯s memory throughout the season, including tentative plans for an invitation-only event at the Miller High Life Theater in early April, and a public celebration in late August at American Family Field.

¡°It¡¯s unimaginable to have a summer where you can¡¯t listen to him,¡± Attanasio said. ¡°We¡¯ll run old [highlights], but it¡¯s going to be very hard to introduce the season with a different voice.¡±

Speaking of the season, here are more of Attanasio¡¯s thoughts while the Brewers took part in their first full-squad workout on Tuesday:

On the offseason and player payroll:

¡°Our payroll right now at the start of the season is approximately $5 million more than it was at the start of last year. So all these reports that it's down and it's cut, it's actually about $5 million higher. We have, I would say, and this will be my 21st season, an unprecedented amount of youthful talent on this club. Jackson Chourio gets a lot of attention because he's 20, but in the clubhouse meeting just now, Murph [manager Pat Murphy] went through, wow, over a dozen players who participated in winning the division last year by 10 games ¡­ and all those guys are back.

"So, there really weren't any spots to fill. Maybe third base, but we want to give Tyler Black a shot and Ollie Dunn, and [Joey] Ortiz can slide over. So there was no space to fill. Yeah, there's always room for starting pitching, but that's quite expensive, and we want to see what some of these young guys can do.

¡°It's just the way the offseason presented itself relative to the club that we had. Importantly, we didn't trade anybody except for Devin [Williams], and we added a veteran starter [Nestor Cortes], and we added a young player [infield prospect Caleb Durbin]. We swapped an ace closer that's one of the best closers in baseball for someone who we hope can pitch 170 innings and who was an All-Star a couple years ago, and added a young [player]. That's sort of our template. We have to keep the pipeline of young players going.¡±

• 'We like the balance': Brewers acquire Cortes, Durbin from Yanks for Williams

On competing with the Dodgers and baseball¡¯s other big-market clubs:

¡°I always said I don¡¯t like to talk about us as a small market, and we¡¯ve certainly not played like a small market. People are going to get tired of me saying this, but since 2005, we have the fourth-most wins in the National League. Since 2007, top 10 in attendance. ¡­ [GM] Matt [Arnold] recently told me that since 2020, the only team that¡¯s been in first place more days than us is the Dodgers. ¡­

¡°We don¡¯t have the financial ability to bring in superstars ¨C we hang onto Yeli [Christian Yelich] and we hang onto whoever we hold onto whenever we can ¨C but that means that we can develop this pipeline of players. Murph just said in the clubhouse: ¡®We're an organization of opportunity,¡¯ and I think that's borne out.¡±

• 3 big questions for Brewers to ponder in camp

On why he thinks the Brewers can win the division again in 2025:

¡°Because the team won last year and it¡¯s the same team. Minus Devin Williams [and Willy Adames], no doubt. But you¡¯ve added Cortes and you¡¯ve got a year of experience for the young players and you¡¯ve got Christian Yelich back and you¡¯ve got Woody [Brandon Woodruff] back. I think last year, people said we were going to be in last place. Look, I prefer that, frankly. I get concerned that there may be more expectancy this year. There was no pressure on us last year. Maybe there will be a little pressure this year.¡±