B. Uecker gone

[FrankWakefield]

Bob Uecker is what was good about baseball. I will miss him. A lot of us listened to him call a game. He could see what goes unobserved by many fans.

I saw him in St. Louis. I probably saw him many times. We'd often get to our seats in time to see some batting practice. I remember seeing him at game 7 of the 1964 World Series, mainly because Dad gently nudged my elbow and said look at Uecker... the band that walked around on the field pregame was playing Roll Out the Barrell, I think, I saw the accordion guy (because I don't recall seeing that instrument in person before then, in person) but this tall guy in a Cardinals uniform was walking around with a tuba. The other time I recall was in 1965 in St. Louis. I've mentioned it here before. Warren Spahn, at the end of his career, started the game for the Giants. McCarver was injured, so Uecker got a rare start as catcher for the Cardinals. Uecker spit his right thumb open trying to catch a pitch, time was called, manager, coaches, players and a trainer gathered at the plate, then they took Uecker's catcher's mitt and handed it to Mike Shannon, who geared up and caught the rest of the game.

I confess to listening to Uecker call a game a year or two ago, I chose the Milwaukee feed over the Cardinals' audio feed. And I agree with his brilliant one liners and great timing is delivering them, when on late night television. I think he was good for baseball. Baseball would benefit from an occasional "Uecker", I hope they realize that.

Well wishes to Mr. Uecker's family. I envision him up there with a nice seat on the front row. He deserves one.