Looking back at Bob Uecker's playing days with Phillies

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki's Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

I will never forget the delight in my seventh-grade teacher’s voice.

“Oh my gosh! Are you reading ‘Catcher in the Rye?’” Miss Joyce asked.

“Yes!” I said, proudly.

“Wait … who’s that on the cover?”

I showed Miss Joyce my copy of Bob Uecker’s book: “Catcher in the Wry.” Disappointed, she walked away. I couldn’t understand why. Uecker was my hero, and the book was funnier than anything J.D. Salinger ever wrote.

I grew up in Milwaukee, where Uecker was not only a Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Brewers, but also a star. He appeared on “The Tonight Show,” starred in “Mr. Belvedere,” stole the show in “Major League,” hosted WrestleMania, and had such an unforgettable line in a Miller Lite commercial -- “I must be in the front row!” -- that the Phillies put a Uecker cutout in the last row of the third deck at Citizens Bank Park during the 2020 pandemic-shortened season.

Uecker meant everything to Brewers fans, like Harry Kalas meant everything to Phillies fans, which was why it hit hard to learn about Uecker’s death on Thursday at age 90.

I got a photo with Uecker in September 2021 at American Family Field. I promised I would make it quick because people always wanted a minute of Uecker’s time. Snap a photo, thank him and leave, I promised. That was the plan. But when I walked into the Brewers’ radio booth, Uecker greeted me warmly. I introduced myself. He said, “Oh, I know who you are. How are ya?” He asked me several questions about the Phillies. He asked about a few longtime Phillies employees.

We took the photo, I shook his hand and left. I immediately texted everybody in my family.

• A tribute to Mr. Baseball: Classic Ueck stories

When I wrote a Phillies book in 2008, I used the opportunity to interview Uecker, who played for the Phillies from 1966-67. I found most of the transcript from that interview.

Here are some highlights from our chat:

Uecker on the trade that sent him, Dick Groat and Bill White from St. Louis to Philadelphia on Oct. 27, 1965, for Pat Corrales, Art Mahaffey and Alex Johnson
“Of course, I was the main player in the deal. I didn’t want to go, but I thought, ‘Well, if I don’t go, it’s going to be the end for Dick Groat and Bill White.’ So that was the only reason I agreed to go to Philadelphia.

“It actually gave me one of the great thrills of my life, which was playing for Gene Mauch. I liked it over there. I liked Gene. I had never been around him all that much, but he was a unique individual. He was an outstanding manager.

“Gene took me around during Spring Training, my first spring when I got there. He took me around and showed me the pitchers. ‘See that guy over there, that’s Ray Culp. That’s Fergie Jenkins. I don’t think [Jenkins] can win in the big leagues. We don’t think he can win in the big leagues as a starter.’ I don’t even know him. That’s OK with me. I don’t think he can win with me as a starter, either.”

Uecker on Philly
“I enjoyed my time in Philadelphia. We lived out at the Presidential apartments on City Line Avenue.

“Philly still is one of my favorite towns. It really is. The fans there are totally fanatic about baseball.

"I [completely fabricated a story] about being in Philadelphia: The only fight I ever had with a fan was in Philadelphia. The Philly fans get a little tough sometimes. This particular fan was on me for about four nights in a row. I don’t know why I was playing four nights in a row in the first place, but I was in the on-deck circle and they were really on me, so I dove into the seats and started throwing punches and everything. I was happy I got it out of the way. The only problem with that was a lawsuit. I can remember walking into the court room, and she was sitting there with her attorney and still pretty well marked up.”

Uecker on Dick Allen
“He’s one of my favorite people of all time. Dick and I used to hang around a lot. Richie was into horses. He loved horses. He told me that he was going to bring his horse down to the Presidential on a day off. I don’t know how he did it, but he did. He rode that horse down there. He went through yards and everything else, but he got that horse down there to the Presidential apartments. I went outside and there he was, sitting on that horse. It was great. He’s one of my all-time favorite people. I have nothing but fond and great memories of Dick Allen.

“A couple of years ago I was in Philly. Richie came up to the booth to see me. He told me he’d come back in the seventh. So he did. He came back and shot the breeze for a while. Richie was more comfortable hanging around the grounds crew in Philadelphia. They were having a reunion dinner. Richie’s wife was at the table and he wasn’t around. So [former vice president of public relations] Larry Shenk asked me, ‘Have you seen Richie?’ I said I haven’t seen him for a while. But he was down there with the grounds crew guys, shooting the breeze with them, which is the way he always was. We used to sit in the back of the plane and harmonize, sing songs, me and Richie.

“We could sing, yeah. We were good. We’d sing those barbershop songs and harmonize. We were good. Nothing ‘American Idol,’ but some kind of idol. Buddha Idol.”

Uecker on Connie Mack Stadium
“It was a good old park. Players back then never knew or never imagined or could ever dream of what they have today as players. Never. We had no food. Between games of a doubleheader, you got a bowl of soup and a candy wrapper. They wouldn’t let you eat the candy. You ate the wrapper. You got a bowl of broth or some fruit, but that’s the way it was. Clubhouses were old, but it was comfortable.”

Uecker on hitting a career-high seven homers with the Phillies in 1966
“I started realizing what I was doing and I said, ‘Man, I’ve got to lay back or they’re going to expect this every year.’ So I kind of backed off. I thought to myself, ‘What are you going to do after you’re done playing if you keep hitting like this? You won’t have anything to talk about. No stories. No jokes.’ So I’d go up there and try to make an out sometimes.”

Uecker often told a story about how Mauch pinch-hit for him in a game before he ever batted. It was mostly true. (He hit once in the second inning.) It was June 17, 1966. Phillies at St. Louis. Top of the third inning. The Phillies had a 3-2 lead with the bases loaded and two outs. Mahaffey replaced Cardinals lefty Curt Simmons. Clay Dalrymple pinch-hit for Uecker. Mahaffey threw a wild pitch to score Allen to make it 4-2. The Phillies won, 6-5.
“Gene winked at me like he made a genius move. Like I couldn’t take a wild pitch? Geez, we’re all trained to do that. But he did. He pinch-hit Clay Dalrymple for me and when Art Mahaffey threw a wild pitch, he looked at me and winked, like, ‘Was that a move or what?’ What could I say? It worked. Nice going.”