Bob Uecker, one of the most beloved figures in baseball, will undergo heart surgery Friday and miss the next 10-12 weeks of the season in recovery.
Bob Uecker, one of the most beloved figures in baseball, will undergo heart surgery Friday and miss the next 10-12 weeks of the season in recovery.
Uecker, the hometown lad first signed by the Milwaukee Braves who made the transition to the booth some forty years ago, will undergo surgery to replace his aortic valve and part of his aortic root. It's not a surprise — Uecker was told last fall this surgery was inevitable — but he had hoped to put it off until the end of the year. Still, the situation is not dire: he will be in the booth today for the series finale against the Pirates.
Uecker first made his mark in the wider entertainment world as a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, regaling Johnny Carson with tales of his ineptitude as a player. He was then signed by Miller for a series of television spots spoofing his lack of sway in the baseball world, showing his "front-row" seats as actually being the worst in the park; the Brewers embraced this by dubbing the worst seats in Miller Park as "Uecker Seats" and selling them at a big discount.
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