Bob Uecker is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

thank you Joe thank you very much and thank you ladies and gentlemen and my congratulations to how Gary Cotter Eddie Murray and to all of the members of the staff the hall of fame thank you very much this has been a wonderful wonderful time I in deference to Hal McCoy was asked to quit many times I was born and raised in Milwaukee Wisconsin actually I was born in Illinois my mother and father were on an oleo margarine run to Chicago back in 1934 because we couldn't get colored margarine in Wisconsin on the way home my mother was with child me and the pain started and my dad pulled off into an exit area and that's where the event took place I remember it was a nativity type setting an exit light shining down or three truck drivers there one guy was carrying butter one guy had frankfurters and the other guy was a retired baseball scout who told my folks that I that I probably had a chance to play somewhere down the line the I remembered being very cold it was January I didn't worry very much I think I'm the birth certificate says something like 10 ounces I was very small and I remember the coldness on my back from the asphalt and I was immediately wrapped in swaddling clothes and put in the back of a 37 Chevy without a heater and that was the start of this cinderella story that you're hearing today I did not have a lot of ability as a kid my dad wanted me to have everything that everybody else had I think the first thing that he ever bought me was a football and I was very young and he didn't know a lot about it he came from the old country and I mean we tried to pass it and throw it and kick it and we couldn't do it and it was very discouraging for him and for me and almost we almost quit and and finally we had a nice enough neighbor came over and put some air in it and what a what a difference I I got a lot of my ability from my father as a lot of these other guys did my father actually came to this country as a soccer player he didn't play blew up the balls is what he did and they didn't have pumps in those days and to see a man put that valve in his mouth and insert it into a soccer ball and blow thirty pounds of air and then have the ability to pull that thing out without it fracturing the back of his mouth was unbelievable you had to see his neck and his veins popping it was unbelievable how proud I was as I watched him do it time after time my first sport was eighth grade basketball and my dad didn't want to buy me the the supporter Johnny to you know to do the job so my mother made me one out of a flower sack and the tough thing about that is you put that baby on you whip it out of your bag in the gym and you know all the guys are looking at it and you start the game and the guy the guy guarding you knows exactly where you're going because little specks of flour keep dropping out and then ride down the front it says Pillsbury's best I signed a very modest $3,000 bonus with the Braves in Milwaukee which I'm sure a lot of you know and my old man didn't have that kind of money to put out but the Braves took it I remember sitting around our kitchen table counting all this money coins out of jars and I'm telling my dad let's forget this I don't want to play he said no you are going to play baseball and we go to help you make some money and we're going to live will good my dad had an accident I want to be real authentic when I'm doing this thing so I signed the signing took place at a very popular restaurant in Milwaukee and I remember driving and my dad's all fired up and nervous and I said look it'll be over in a couple of minutes don't be uptight we pulled in the parking lot pull next to the Braves automobile and my dad screws up right away he doesn't have the window rolled up far enough and our tray falls off and all the food is on the floor and from there on it was baseball starting with the Braves in Milwaukee st. Louis where I won the world's championship for them in 1964 to the Philadelphia Phillies and then back to the Braves in Atlanta where I became Phil Negros personal chaser but during every player's career there comes a time when you know that your services are no longer required that you might be moving on traded sold released whatever it may be and having been with four clubs I picked up a few these tips I remember gene Mauck doing things to me at Philadelphia I'd be sitting there and he'd say grab a bat and stop this rally send me up there without a bat and tell me to try for a walk look down at the third-base coach for a sign and have him turn his back on you but you know what things like that never bothered me I've set records that will never be equalled 90% I hope I never printed 200 lifetime batting average in the major leagues which tied me with another sports great averaging 200 or better for a 10-year period Don Carter one of our top bowlers in 1967 I set a major league record for past balls and I did that without playing every game there was a game as a matter of fact during that year when Phil Niekro 's brother and he were pitching against each other in Atlanta their parents were sitting right behind home plate I saw their folks more that day than they did the whole weekend but with people like Negro and this was another thing that I found the easy way out to catch a knuckleball was to wait until it stopped rolling and then just pick it up there were a lot of things that aggravated me - my family is here today my boys my girls my kids used to do things to aggravate me - I'd take him to a game and they'd want to come home with a different player I remember one of my friends came to Atlanta to see me once he came to the door he says Bob Uecker live here he said yeah bring him in but my two boys are just like me and their championship little league game one of them struck out three times and the other one had an air allowed the winning run the score they lost a championship and I couldn't have been more proud I remember the people as we walked through the parking lot throwing eggs and rotten stuff at our car what a beautiful day you know everybody remembers their first game in the major leagues for me it was in Milwaukee my hometown born and raised there and I can remember walking out on the field and Bertie Tibbetts was our manager at that time and my family was there my mother and dad and all my relatives and as I'm standing on the field everybody's pointing at me and waving and laughing and I'm pointing back and Bertie Tibbetts came up and asked me if I was nervous or uptight about the game and I said I'm not I've been waiting five years to get here I'm ready to go he said well we're gonna start you today I didn't want to tell you earlier I didn't want you to get too fired up I said look I'm ready to go he saw a great year in there and oh by the way the the rest of us up here where that supporter on the inside so that was the first game my folks walked out on too but you know of all the things that I've done this has always been number one baseball the commercials the 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 gone in as a player thank you thank you very much the proof is in the pudding now this this conglomeration of greats that are here today a lot of them were teammates but they won't admit it but they were and a lot of them were players that worked in games that I called they are wonderful friends and always will be and the 1964 world's championship team the great Lou Brock and I remember as we got down near World Series time Bing Devine who was the Cardinals general manager at that time asked me if I would do him and the Cardinals in general a favor and I said I would and he said we'd like to inject you with hepatitis we need to bring an infielder up and I said will I be able to sit on the bench he said yes we'll build a plastic cubicle for you because it is an infectious disease and I've got it I've got to tell you this I have a photo at home I turned a beautiful color yellow and with that cardinal white uniform I was knocked out it was beautiful what a little is great of course any championship involves a World Series the ring the ceremony the following season in st. Louis at old Busch Stadium and we were standing along the sidelines I was in the bullpen warming up the pitcher and when they called my name for the ring it's something that you never ever forget and when they threw it out in the left-field I found it in the fifth inning I think it was there wasn't yeah and once once I spotted it in the grass man I was on it I mean it was it was unbelievable but as these players have bats and I had a great shoe contract and glove contract with a company who paid me a lot of money never to be seen using their stuff bad orders I would order a dozen bats and there were times they came back with handle handles of each end you know people have asked me a lot of times because I didn't hit a lot we all know that how long a dozen bats would last me depending on the weight and the model I was using at that particular time I would say eight to ten cookouts I once ordered a dozen flame treated bats and they sent me a box of ashes so I knew at that time you know things were moving on but there are again as I said tips that you pick up when the Braves were going to release me it's a tough time for a manager for your family for the player to be told that you're never going to play the game again and I can remember walking in the clubhouse that day and Luman Harris who was the Braves manager came up to me and said there were no visitors allowed so again I knew I might be moving on Paul Richards was the general manager and told me the Braves wanted to make me a coach for the following season and then I would be coaching second base so again gone but that's when the baseball career started as a broadcaster I remember working first with Milo Hamilton and Ernie Johnson and I was all fired up about that too until I found out that my portion of the broadcast was being used to jam Radio Free Europe and I picked up a microphone one day and my Mike had no cord on it so I was talking to nobody but it's such a wonderful wonderful thing today to be here and one of my first partners was mentioned earlier Merle Harmon and Tom Collins he's here today all of those who have worked with from Merle to lauren brown Dwayne Mosley Pat Hughes who now works for the Chicago Cubs and my current partner today Jim Powell and Ken Sommerfeld my thanks to all of you to my good pal Bob Costas out there Thank You Bobby all of the network people that has been as much a part of broadcasting for me as anything the days with ABC and Monday night baseball with the late Bob Prince and Keith Jackson and Al Michaels and my great pal Don Drysdale all of those people have played such a big part in me being here today Dick Ebersol the head of NBC Sports all of them are a big part of what I am my family is seated over here I love him very much ulis Payne is here the president of the Brewers the Commissioner of baseball is a guy that gave me my start he said I want to bring you back to Milwaukee and I said I'll come and Here I am 33 years later Thank You al I call him now Bud Selig wife Sue is here too all of my brewer family Wendy Laurel Selig Wendy Selig freed Laurel Priebe Tony Milioti oh one of my great friends Mike LeBeau all my people John Greenberg I didn't even know you were here you took care of Helen McCoy what the hell's going on but all all of all of these people play such a big part in all of our lives and to all of you baseball fans around America and any place else for your letters your thoughts your your kindness for all of these years it's been a great run but number one has always been baseball for me know what no matter what else I ever did baseball was the only way I wanted to go I thank you very much for your attention today thank you for having me and congratulations to everybody here thank you very much everybody thank you

Channel: MLB

Views: 937,874

Rating: 4.7752128 out of 5

Keywords: Vault, Milwaukee Brewers, Major League Baseball, speech, Major League, MLB, Hall Of Fame, MLB Vault, classic

Id: h7dG5HCKeWA

Length: 18min 26sec (1106 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 13 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/squizzlewix]

I always have tried to find audio of this, but never had. Looks like the MLB finally uploaded.