MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers are working closely with Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker’s family on a summertime event to honor Mr. Baseball.
Brewers President of Business Operations, Rick Schlesinger, tells WTMJ the celebration of life will be part of a late summer ball game.
“We’re going to have a tremendous outpouring of support and cherishing of Bob,” Schlesinger said.
Uecker died in January of cancer at 90 years old. Having already been with the club at spring training earlier this month, Schlesinger says you can feel Uecker’s absence from the field, to the broadcast booth, to the front office.
“It’s going to be really tough, candidly, to have a season without Bob,” he shared. “I have been here for years. I’ve been a Brewers fan since 1970. He is the brand. You guys, obviously at [WTMJ] have a special relationship with him. The man broadcast over 11,000 baseball games and he took care in each one of those games.”
The Brewers already announced there will be nods to Uecker on opening day at American Family Field. Uecker’s signature will remain on the outfield grass through the season. Players will wear tribute patches, and there will be a moment of silence prior to the first pitch at the March 31st opener.
Details are still coming together for the larger celebration event, but Schlesinger did confirm it will be part of an already scheduled game.
“We’ll look to have, obviously, a tremendous amount of video content of Bob,” Schlesinger revealed. “His great works, not only for the Brewers, but for Carson, Major League, the Miller Lite commercials and his career on the screen and on TV. The whole game will sort of be an homage if you will to Bob and his body of work.”
The day will also include speakers whom the Brewers are working to line up. The Brewers hope to announce a date for the game by late April, and additional details for the event, as they are worked out.
