5 thoughts on “Mister Baseball

  1. IIRC, I’d heard that Carson didn’t vet any of Uecker’s appearances on the Tonight Show. He didn’t want to know the jokes beforehand so he could laugh along with everyone else.

    Uecker, Vin Scully, and Harry Caray were the three biggest personalities in the announcer’s booth for most of my life. There have been other famous announcers too, but those three guys were the kings. Every game, you could hear the enthusiasm, sincerity, kindness, fairness, love of the game, love of the players, and love of the fans. Baseball made them happy, and that helped us feel happy too.

    Whatever the merits of contemporary announcers, I don’t think anyone has quite filled their shoes just yet.Report

    1. The modern announcers seem to believe that they aren’t allowed to be partisan. They have to call it straight down the middle. Uecker was a fan. He loved the game but he loved his team and when they won you could tell that he was pleased and when they lost you could tell that he was down about it.

      He treated the umps with respect (mostly) but wasn’t above kvetching about a bad call against his guys or waxing philosophical about a bad call in the favor of his guys.

      And he was so good at it that you became a Brewers fan too.

      I mean, unless they were playing against your guys.Report

      1. Most announcers have changed their approach to be ‘pro-ballclub’ as employed by the team; fan broadcasters are pretty rare now. Ron Santo is the last one I can remember — and that was purely because he was untouchable as a Cub (and only on radio).Report

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