Bob Uecker, the longtime Milwaukee Brewers voice who became nationally known for his comic turns in movies and television, has died at age 90.
Uecker’s death was announced Thursday by Major League Baseball, with whom he was associated as a player or broadcaster for 70 years. He spent 54 years calling Brewers games on the radio, calling games as recently as last season, and for a time in the 1990s joined Bob Costas and Joe Morgan on NBC’s lead MLB broadcast team for playoff and World Series games.
His most memorable calls may have been for a fictional version of the Cleveland Indians in the “Major League” film series. Playing the role of Indians announcer Harry Doyle, Uecker’s iconic line in the original 1989 film “just a bit outside” may well be his best-remembered call.
“Major League” was the pinnacle of a prolific acting and entertainment career for Uecker, who was a frequent guest on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,” regularly appeared in Miller Lite ads, and was a castmember on the ABC sitcom “Mr. Belvedere.” His place in the popular culture was such that he once hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
His self-deprecating nature and ability to say even the most absurd lines with a straight delivery — “the Mets close out a season that will rank among mankind’s most awful crimes” — made him a fixture in baseball comedies.
Uecker had been battling lung cancer since 2023, but still called Brewers games the past two seasons.
