Bob Uecker, the clubhouse wit who turned his tales of inferiority as a major league catcher into a comic narrative that animated his second career as a sportscaster and commercial pitchman, died on Thursday at his home in Menomonee Falls, Wis. He was 90.
His family announced the death in a statement released by the Milwaukee Brewers, for whom had long been a broadcaster. The statement said he been treated for small-cell lung cancer since early 2023.
Uecker proved himself undistinguished during his six seasons as a major leaguer in the 1960s. He eked out a career batting average of just .197, hit 14 home runs and drove in 74 runs. A career reserve player, he never started more than 62 games in a season for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, the St. Louis Cardinals or the Philadelphia Phillies.
“To last as long as I did, with the skills I had, was a triumph of the human spirit,” Uecker said in his memoir, “Catcher in the Wry” (1982), written with Mickey Herskowitz.