BOB UECKER RIP

Rob talks about his time with this legendary hall of famer.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
On this program, we try to remain civil. You're dirty
eating PiZZ of slime, you scum sucking pig.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
You're listening to the Rob Dibble Show.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
All right, let's talk some Major League baseball.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
We'll start with the life and death of one of
our favorite people. Bob Buker passes away at the age
of ninety.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Or one out poor, a couple outs or a couple
He would want you to absolutely well, he'd wants you
to drink it more than he'd want you to pour
it outfit a Miller.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Light, a Miller light, pour one out for him. There's
so many there's I think there's like two or three
generations that know him, some as a baseball player, some
as an actor and doing television sitcoms, and then as
a broadcaster in the movie Major League, and then like

(00:56):
you know, a Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
I did not know that. Yes, a few years ago.
I yeah, you know him a lot different than Kurt
and I. Kurt is a little bit older than me.
You're a little bit older than Kurt. Now, Kurt and
I are. I had the conversation that mister Belvidere was
not a part of our households, like we knew of
the shows.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
You knew of the show, but you probably your sitcoms
were probably a decade later than mister Belvie.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Correct. Now, my childhood is my baseball childhood. From fifth
grade till probably high school. Man was major League Major
League two. Like I thought, this was the guy that's
the play by play for Major League. And then you know,
the Belvidere stuff I think came from my parents. The
millerte commercials came from my town time in North Carolina,

(01:43):
with all my old timer listeners knowing it that way.
And then really, I would say a couple of years
out of college was the first time that it was
brought to my attention that this guy actually played baseball.
And then I started seeing the Johnny Carson clips on YouTube,
and then I started realizing and how funny this dude was,
and that really major League that was not acting, that

(02:06):
was just Tim be and him.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
That's how he did every game.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
And then I realized he does really do that. He's
the Brewers guy. And then I met Rob Dibble and
I found out a little bit more from the Brewers
time that you had with them, Like you guys were
you guys were boys. You guys were the nasty boys
of the clean club. Wow, that's why I was Okay.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
So when I was in Milwaukee, it was what they
call the dry team. You're you're in the beer capital
of the country, and where they made I don't know,
five six different types of beer. I know, you know,
Miller beer was made there in Old Milwaukee and old
style and all. And they had apps. I mean, so

(02:46):
I drove by them every day on my way to
the ballpark. And you get there, it's like, yeah, we're
not gonna have beer in the clubhouse.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
What what?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
So I'd been with the Reds for seven seasons and
I was with the White Sox and then you know,
came over the Brewers midseason. So I get in there,
and you know, quickly I have a lot of friends
in there. Joe Oliver's on the team, Guys that I've
already played with, and uh, you know Bill Wegman and
guys that I played in the minor leagues in Puerto
Rico with and stuff like that. Mike Fetters was the closer.
Mike and I are good friends. Yeah, you know, just

(03:15):
so many great great guys on the Kevin Sitzer you know,
it's just so one one great player after the the
the guy that I fought when I was on the
White Sox, pat Listache and I became great friends, great
friends because the the They were kind enough to put
my locker next to his the first day I was
on the Brewers. Quickly, you you know, the first day.

(03:36):
And here's the thing, meeting Hawk Harrelson on the White Sox.
It's just Bob Uker's a funnier version of Hawk Harrelson.
Hawk Harrelson was a great player, became a great broadcaster
and was just like part.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Of the team.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
He like comes, he comes with the team. It's like
a hood ornament on your car. It's just it's never
gonna leave. It's gonna be there every day. Right, that's Bobby.
So Bob, but so Bob Buker. The first day I'm there,
I'm on the road and I actually joined the Brewers
in the White Sox Stadium and then we would go
to Milwaukee. So I get there and I'm like, there's

(04:14):
no beer. There's like, you know, no smoking, no nothing
in this clubhouse. Like nope, nope, you can't do any
of that stuff, Like okay, And then Bob Buker comes
in and he walks through the clubhouse and through like
a passage and goes out the back door. I'm like,
where's he going. They're like, oh, well, that's where we're
gonna go hang and I'm like, and Mike Fetters's like,
come on, man, And so we go back there about

(04:34):
half a dozen players. There's Bob Buker, there's Robin Yacht
Hall of Famer. There's Phil Phil Gantner, or not Phil
gant I think it's uh. I remember his first name, Gantner.
Gorman Thomas, who owned a restaurant there in the building,
and then a couple of other broadcasters. They did ready
and we sat down and there was beer brought in,

(04:57):
and we sat there for hours and talked, and that's
how I was kind of initiated into the brewers. And
from that point on, I was like besties with Bob
on the road, you know, in the clubhouse, because I
was one of the older players, and I knew him
from mister Belvidere in Major League, and so I kind
of had like more in common with him than some
of the other guys. Even the coaches were, you know,

(05:17):
like Phil Garner was the manager and Tim Foley and some.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Of the other guys.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
They were always like, bang Bank Bank, They're out of there.
And it was just like a handful of us that hung.
And then for every home game he drove his Harley in.
Bob Bucker in his seventies is driving up on this
really nice soft tail. It's decked out in blue and gold,
it's got his number nine, it's a flame baseball on

(05:41):
the gas tank. Hell yeah, and I'm like, this dude
pulls up. Now, I'd already known that Holmegren did that
when he was coaching the Packers, and I was like,
these guys are cool as hell here in Milwaukee. And
from that point on though, I mean, he couldn't have
been nicer like my uncle, you know, kind of personality wise,
but like he's to me, I don't care about what
his statistics said as a player, what he did after

(06:05):
baseball or during baseball. With Johnny Carson, mister Belvedere. With
being a broadcaster, it was like Joe Knuxall in Cincinnati.
They are icons. Yeah, they are. People are paying to
be in the same building with Bob Yuker. They're listening
to him on his broadcast during the game. It's like
Vin Scully. I've already told you this during every Dodger

(06:25):
game while I was in the bullpen, because thirty thousand
or twenty five thousand people had transitioner radios or portable
radios and we're listening to Vince Gully's call at Dodger Stadium.
It was freaky, but it was awesome. And so that
was Milwaukee. Milwaukee. Half the stadium had Bob ucheron while
the game's going on, and because they loved him that much.

(06:48):
So it wasn't even like and we were bad. We
were not a good Brewers team. They got better after
I left, but while I was there, you know, they
were not good. But Bob Yucker was always good and
always personable and always like Harry Carey in your Cubs,
he was. He was a bigger than life force with
the Brewers up right now.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
He did. He was.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
He was working last year up until he passes.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
So we got a lot of Bob Buker cuts here
for the people. Jim Gantner, Jim Jim Banner, I looked
that up real quick. While you're saying that he was
a pistol, he looks like he's, oh my god, all right, Kurt,
there's a couple of major leagues I think stacked on
Harry Doyle. Yeah, so this is Harry Doyle. This is
the Bob Buker I grew up with as such a

(07:33):
fan of this. Major League one and two, these were
common commonly copied, uh imitated. We learned the lines to
say to each other on the baseball diamonds. So here's
I don't know which order there, and I'll just let
you rip it off. The one's labeled, is it is
it cut? Does it say g D goddamn? Yeah, go

(07:55):
ahead and play that. We'll let it play here on
these airwaves.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
So the Triad drops it third straight on this trip,
six to one to the Rangers for the Indians.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
One run on. Let's say one hip, that's all. We got,
one goddamn hit.

Speaker 4 (08:09):
You can't say goddamn on the air.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
I don't worry nobody's listening.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Anyway that things have changed. You can't, right, But yes,
that was from in the eighties. You good. That was
major League one, idea first major League. This is from
Major League two. And this is something I had a
friend that learned this whole speech. And when someone would
get lifted from the mound. He would say this as
Bob Ukaz, you're walking back to the dugout and he

(08:34):
won't be done with it by the time you sit
your butt down, and I could hear it in the outfield.
That's how good he was at this imitation. But is
one of my faiths? Actually, wonder it's second.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Here's the pitch to Shoan, swung on and built to
the deep right field that goes Serrano. That baby is
out of here. That looked like the Terminator, only slower.
Maybe it was his on a stater, or it could
have been the hibernator. That baby is up in the league,
going away for the winner. Whatever. For Vaughan, it might
be see you later. He's probably gonna become a spectator.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
You would say that to people all the time. You're
probably gonna become a spectator.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
That was Major League two, when when Ricky Vaughan becomes
like a star and then he forgets how to pitch,
but he names every one of his pitches super high
like some of these major leaguers today.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
A little bit. Yeah, never know what's gonna happen when
you give somebody a million Yeah, like.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
The ghost change up or whatever the hell what's the
stace throws a ghost pepper.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
It's a ghost pepper, pitches ghost pepper. All right, here's
some actual Bob Ucker, not Harry Doyle. This is I
think the first time that the Brewers with Bob Buker
calling go to play in the ALCS.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
The armor is back here he.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
Comes one two try Hello New York. Hi, Rollie fingers,
what a jolly is being mob by his teammates as
the Brewers have come from behind today to beat de
tit buy.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
A score of two to one.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
Oh, what a victory today for this Milwaukee Brewer ball
Club and Milwaukee will.

Speaker 5 (10:24):
Place New York for the American League Eastern Division championship.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
I think that's the brew Crew of eighty two, right,
And that's the heyday you're talking about. Thomas listening Harvey
Harvey Wallbangers. Yeah, Harvey's Wallbangers listening to the game on
top of watching the game when you're in the ballpark.
I think this next one is when Kurt Founder, maybe
Bob Joyce had found this is his final call from
this year, same kind of situation. Brewers end up winning

(10:52):
the division.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Well, New York, that's when Yankees down, Sorry man.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
And the crew. Well we'll have it in here tonight.
Really a crushing end to what was a fabulous season
for the Milwaukee Brewers. I'm telling you that one.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Had some string on it.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
That was the final call of Bob Yucker in the
booth for the Brewers. So yeah, New York Mets this
season beat the Brewers to move on in the playoffs.
Final one I put in there is from the Hall
of Fame, and you guys were saying the Ford Frick Award.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
So there's awards for broadcasters on TV, and then the
Ford Frick is for the best radio announcers that go
into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
And for context, how good of a baseball player was
Bob Yer good at all? Not good at all.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
He was a catcher, right, He's a backup catcher, backup
catch and so he always joked about how bad he was.
He was on Johnny Carson like times. He was one
of Johnny Carson's favorites because every time he came on there,
he was funnier and funnier and funnier just by being
Bob Buker. The bit about was like a comedian, the knuckleball.
It was so funny that well.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
I found that the easiest way to catch knuckleball is
just wait for it to stop rolling, yes, and pick
it up.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
So this is his uh, the end of or really
kind of the middle and the end of his speech
getting on it. I think two thousand and three is
the year that he gets to the Ford Frick Award
at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Everyone is in the audience,
George George H. W. Bush is in the audience. I
saw Bob Costas in the audience, like it's a who's

(12:45):
who of sports and just figures in the United States
in the audience here, and Bob Bucker speaks of.

Speaker 5 (12:52):
All the things that I've done, this has always been
number one baseball, the commercial the films, the television series.
I could never wait for everything to get over, to
get back to baseball. I still, and this is not
sour grapes by any means, still think I should have

(13:15):
gone in as a player. Thank you, Thank you very much,
all those boys. The proof is in the pudding. And
to all of you baseball fans around America and anyplace

(13:38):
else for your letters, your thoughts, your kindness for all
of these years. It's been a great run. But number
one has always been baseball for me. No matter what
else I ever did, Baseball was the only way I
wanted to go. I thank you very much for your

(13:59):
attention today, thank you for having me, and congratulations to
everybody here. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
So I remember watching the speech. He never had notes
like at that speech or a lot of other things
he did. He just totally you know, was a great speaker.
And like I said on Johnny Carson, I don't think
he like wrote jokes. I think he just went out
there and was himself. I mean, he's an amazing human

(14:27):
as a player, six years career, two hundred hitter, never
played more than eighty games in a season. As a
backup catcher. I think he got two hundred plate appearances
one year, hit two eight with seven home runs at
thirty aere we have Anye, you know, listen, he made
the most of what God gave him. And like I said,

(14:47):
you know it was it was because of he was
a larger than life personality. Johnny Bench talked about this
today on X and I would have anybody go, you know,
listen to his Hall of Fame speech because he thanks everybody.
He never takes very very humble man. Johnny talks about
how much like Johnny Bench, one of the greatest catches
all loved, loved, loved Uker. There's a picture that Johnny

(15:11):
just put on X It's Carlton Fisk, Johnny, Pudge Rodriguez
and Yuker, and Yucker's still chapped that he didn't go
in as a player, you know. I mean, he knows
he wasn't a good player, but he's still in his
fashion made you think, you know what, maybe he should
have gone in as a player. Maybe it's not all

(15:31):
about no. I mean, he made you think about things
and but but he's just such a beautiful human being.
So uh he dies at the age of ninety, but
he'll be with us for a long long time. A
lot of his stuff that, like he said, movies, television,
the Miller like commercials are are amazing. I mean, he
was one of the best of all of the you

(15:52):
know people that did those just because you know, they're
probably like, you know, what, what do you want to
do in this commercial?

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well?

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Why night, you know, kind of make fun of how
bad of a career I had by thinking, you know,
first I'm gonna be in the front row, because his
first one I think he does, he's sitting in the
front row and they're like, you know what, mister yucker,
those aren't your seats. And the next time you see him,
he's in the top row in the third deck, and
he's like, WHOA must.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Be in the front row.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
You know. He always was self deprecating, and that's the
beautiful thing about him is he never thought he was
as wonderful as he really was, and he always treated
everybody like you were the most wonderful person in the room.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Did he start just a bit outside, Yeah, that's him.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
That's because that's Ricky Vaughan's that's Charlie Sheen. So let
me let me preface this by saying, Charlie Sheen was
a big Reds fan. While they were filming Major League,
that's when he was with us a lot. With the Dodgers,
he was at Dodger Stadium. So every time we went
west or even in Cincinnati, there's always Charlie Sheen. He'd
be at the field. We didn't know he was filming

(16:55):
a movie. We just like, okay, why is this guy here?
All the time he was gaining stuff for the movie,
you know, not the nasty boys per se, but kind
of the feel of the bullpen. He was always with us.
He was always shagging in the outfield. He's always around us.
And so knowing that, then knowing the parties that we
went to Charlie Sheen's house, Major League came out, and

(17:16):
then it kind of all ties together of that's that's
what these guys do, you know? And Tom Selleck. Tom
Selleck spring training with the Tigers, hung out with us
all the time in the clubhouse with the Reds. We
went out to dinner with him multiple times because my
agent was his agent. Misall, yeah, mister baseball. So he
was filming mister baseball. We had no idea. You know.

(17:39):
Another one Tom Sellick's filming Lasseter in Cincinnati had shaved
the famous mustache off. Comes in the clubhouse, just hanging out.
He's there for like two months. You're like, why is
this guy here every home game? You know, you have
no idea he's filming a movie, but you know he's
a movie star. But Bob Yuker is the same way.
You never knew Bob Yucker was as famous, especially when
you were in Milwaukee, because Bob was just such a

(18:02):
sweetheart of a guy. That's the thing that I want
people to understand is, like, you know, all these people
like Bob Bob, Bob, Bob's kind of like Harry. You know,
Harry had his restaurant, Harry had all the things you've done.
And Harry, like I've said this before, Harry always made
me feel special. He was gaining nuggets for him to
do the game, but he at the same time was

(18:24):
such a respectful person from you know, like listen, I
just said. You know, Ker was born in nineteen thirty four.
You know, Harry Carey was probably born in the twenties
or third. There was a different respect factor even from
our elders that they gave us as players because they
understood the players deserved that kind of respect. And so
that's what blew me away. Jack Buck, Harry Carey, Ernie,

(18:46):
Ernie Harwell, all of these guys, Vin Scully. You know,
when you were around them, it was a tremendous experience
for us, but they made it seem like it was
a better experience for them.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Bob U Ker thirty four to twenty twenty five. There's
some really good stuff on MLB dot com. It seems
like they were really prepared for the passing of Bob
Yucker because they've got a lot of stories from other
major leaguers out there right now, a lot of videos
from the past. I'm seeing a picture of him when
he first got into the big leagues, Like this guy
is just a salt of the earth man and like
he said in that Hall of Fame speech, really loved

(19:20):
the game.