Bob Uecker 1934-2025

The Pop Fly Pop Shop print of Bob Uecker, art by Daniel Jacob Horine, 2024.

Bob Uecker was one of a kind. Uecker’s career in pro baseball began in 1956, when he was signed by his hometown team, the Milwaukee Braves. Uecker spent 6 seasons in the minor leagues before finally getting a shot in the big leagues in 1962. Uecker actually flashed some power in the minors, hitting 19 home runs in 1956, 15 in 1957, 22 in 1958, and 14 in 1961. In the majors, Uecker was that least glamorous of baseball players, a backup catcher. At the beginning of the 1964 season, Uecker was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he was the backup for Tim McCarver. Can you imagine playing on a team where your two main catchers were Tim McCarver and Bob Uecker? That must have been a very talkative, very funny bench.  

Bob Uecker's 1965 Topps baseball card. 

The 1964 Cardinals ended up winning the World Series, even though Uecker didn’t see any postseason action. Uecker’s 1965 Topps baseball card noted that “his funny-man antics keeps teammates loose.” Little did Topps know how right they were. On the front of his 1965 Topps card, Uecker is pictured with a huge grin on his face, batting left-handed. Bob fooled the Topps photographer, as Uecker was actually a right-handed hitter.  

St. Louis Cardinals team photo, 1965, with Uecker and Bob Gibson holding hands. Steve Carlton is on the far left, sitting down. 

Uecker and his battery mate Bob Gibson pulled a very funny practical joke on the Cardinals. For a team photo, Uecker and Gibson were sitting next to each other in the front row, holding hands with huge smiles on their faces. According to Uecker, the Cardinals fined both him and Gibson. And of course, they had to retake the photo. But if you look at that team photo, take a look at the player sitting on the far left of Uecker and Gibson’s row: it’s young Steve Carlton.  

Carlton was a rookie in 1965, and Uecker caught 5 games that Carlton pitched in. Uecker was behind the plate for Steve Carlton’s first major league start, on June 14, 1965. Pitching against the Pirates, Lefty’s career as a starter began inauspiciously, as he gave up a home run to the leadoff batter, Bob Bailey. But he settled down after that. However, manager Red Schoendienst took Carlton out of the game after he had pitched 4 1/3 innings, with the game tied at 2, meaning Carlton had no chance to get his first major league win. If Carlton had gotten just two more outs, he would have nabbed the win, as the Cardinals scored 2 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the lead, and they ended up winning, 5-2.  

After the 1965 season, the Cardinals dealt Uecker, along with Dick Groat and Bill White, to the Phillies. It wasn’t a great trade for the Cardinals, who got Pat Corrales, Alex Johnson, and Art Mahaffey in return, none of whom did much of anything for the Cardinals. Despite being a lifetime .200 hitter, Uecker went 3 for 10 against Steve Carlton, giving him an even .300 average. Uecker had 2 RBI’s and 1 strikeout against Lefty. But it does seem fitting that Lefty also got Uecker to ground into a double play.  

Bob Uecker hit only 14 home runs in his major league career, but 3 of those home runs were off of Hall of Famers: Uecker took Sandy Koufax, Gaylord Perry, and Fergie Jenkins deep. That’s a pretty impressive feat.  

Of course, Bob Uecker’s greatest fame came after his playing days were over. Uecker was a frequent guest on “The Tonight Show,” and he cracked Johnny Carson up with his baseball stories. Uecker was a master of self-deprecating wit, and Carson nicknamed him “Mr. Baseball.” Uecker became the radio announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers, and stayed in the job for more than fifty years, a truly remarkable run. 

When I was a kid growing up in the 1980’s, Bob Uecker was a ubiquitous presence in baseball pop culture. I knew Uecker from his frequent Miller Lite beer commercials, his role on the TV show “Mr. Belvedere,” from hosting VHS tapes of funny baseball clips, and of course his role as announcer Harry Doyle in the movie Major League. Uecker’s classic delivery of “Juuuuuust a bit outside” was frequently quoted by me and my Dad when I was growing up.  

There was no one quite like Bob Uecker. Who else had made a career out of making fun of his own major league baseball career? No one did it like Uecker did. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I was gleefully reading Uecker’s humorous autobiography The Catcher in the Wry. When adults asked me what I was reading, I responded with “The Catcher in the Wry,” not understanding why every adult seemed so impressed that I was reading Bob Uecker’s autobiography. I do recall seeming surprised that so many adults had heard of Bob Uecker’s autobiography. That’s a story that I’m sure Uecker would have appreciated.  

A few months ago, the Pop Fly Pop Shop, which features the art of Daniel Jacob Horine, came out with a print honoring Bob Uecker. I went back and forth a bit, thinking if I should buy it or not. But I decided to buy it, and I’m so glad I did, because Bob Uecker just makes me smile. The art piece is a really nice tribute to Uecker and his sense of humor.  

Bob Uecker is a great example of the adage “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Life made Bob Uecker a career .200 hitter in the major leagues. Life also made Bob Uecker a funny, warm person who was able to share his talents and his love of baseball with millions of people over the decades. He was special, and he will be missed by many baseball fans.  

Steve Carlton's 329th Win, August 8, 1987

Press photo and ticket stub for the August 8, 1987 game at the Metrodome: Minnesota Twins versus the Oakland A's. The game would be Steve Carlton's 329th and final win in the major leagues. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Ticket stub for the August 8, 1987 game. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

On August 8, 1987, Steve Carlton won his 329th major league game. It would prove to be his final win in the majors. It was Carlton’s only win with the Minnesota Twins. I wish Lefty could have won one more game to finish at 330 instead of 329, but so it goes. Lefty has such a Zen attitude about life, I’m sure he doesn’t care if he finished with 330 wins or 329. 

1987 was a frustrating season for the future Hall of Famer, but Carlton still had moments of brilliance on the mound. Over 4 starts in June for the Indians, Lefty threw 2 complete games, and had a sparkling ERA of 2.56.  

Carlton was traded to the Twins at the deadline on July 31st, and his first start for the Twins came on August 4th, against fellow 300-game winner Don Sutton of the Angels. Sutton won that game, as Lefty surrendered 9 runs in 5 innings.  

But on August 8th at the Metrodome, Lefty turned back the clock and held the Oakland A’s scoreless for 8 innings, needing just 74 pitches to get through 8 frames as he tried for his first shutout since August 15, 1983. In the top of the 9th, the A’s scored 2 runs off Steve, and manager Tom Kelly called on George Frazier to get the final out of the game. Reggie Jackson was pinch-hitting with the bases loaded, and Frazier got him to fly out to left field.  

After the game, Lefty talked to reporter Howard Sinker of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In a 2017 article, Sinker recounted that he had talked to Carlton before, off the record. Fitting with Lefty’s reputation as a thinking man’s ballplayer, they chatted about Being There, the Jerzy Kosinski novel made into a great film starring Peter Sellers. Sinker thought that Carlton was breaking his decade-long media silence by talking to him, but that wasn’t the case. Carlton actually gave press conferences when he was signed by the Giants and the White Sox in 1986.  

So, what did Steve say about the game? “That felt good...it was frustrating (losing the shutout) I have 3 complete games, but not a game like this, not a shutout for 8 innings. Not even close.” Tom Kelly said of Steve’s performance: “I thought he did an outstanding job.” Kirby Puckett also praised Lefty: “He was going right at the hitters and did his job. He got us off the field real quickly and gave us chances to swing the bat.”  

Lefty struck out Mark McGwire twice for his only strikeouts of the game.  

Pictured is a ticket stub from Lefty’s 329th win, and a press photo from that game, two of the highlights of my Steve Carlton memorabilia collection.  

Vida Blue 1949-2023

Vida Blue, 1949-2023.

Vida Blue spent almost his entire career pitching for Bay Area teams.

My signed 1983 Topps Vida Blue card. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Vida Blue had one of the best baseball names ever. I was just starting to become a baseball fan in 1986-87, at the very end of Blue’s career. He was one of those players that I was drawn to because of his cool name, like Buddy Bell. Back in those pre-internet days, baseball cards were one of the only ways that I knew anything about baseball players, so I’d become a fan of someone just based on their name. My baseball card collection included many players who I found in the commons bin who had cool names, like Enos Cabell, Kurt Bevacqua, and Mike Lum. And Vida Blue is a really fantastic name. I mean, his last name is a color, how cool is that? And it helped that Blue’s final baseball card appearances were in the iconic 1987 sets, which was my favorite year of baseball cards.  

Vida Blue died on Saturday, May 6th, at the age of 73. The cause was complications from cancer, the Oakland A’s said. Blue played a key role in the Oakland A’s dynasty of the 1970’s, as the team won 3 World Series in a row from 1972-74.

As I grew older, I learned about Vida Blue’s fantastic 1971 season, when he won the AL Cy Young and MVP awards. Blue is still the answer to a great trivia question: who is the last switch-hitter to win the AL MVP award? In 2017 Vida Blue was at a card show in the Twin Cities. I brought my son Miles along; he would turn 3 a couple of weeks after this card show, but he was already a big baseball fan. We met a lot of great players like Bob Gibson, Tim Raines, Amos Otis, Rod Carew. And Vida Blue, who was one of the nicest baseball players I’ve met. I told Vida that he was one of my favorite baseball players from the 1970’s, and he said, “Thanks for being a fan.” He shook my hand twice and gave Miles many fist bumps. About an hour later, as Miles and I were just about to leave the card show for the day, Vida was walking by and called out “Go team Blue, Mark!” I had to turn around to see if Vida was talking to someone else, but he was calling out to me. I was very impressed that he remembered my name an hour later. So that’s my encounter with Vida Blue, and he was just as cool as I had hoped he would be. He was just a really nice, positive person in my brief interaction with him, and I’ll always appreciate that.  

In November of 2021, I wrote a couple of long articles about Vida Blue: “A Baseball Career Overview” and “Vida Blue: 110 Baseball Cards.” I don’t want to sound too self-congratulating, but my article “A Baseball Career Overview” is more in-depth than many of the obituaries I’ve read of Vida Blue today. Because Vida Blue’s first full season in the major leagues was 1971, which was also his greatest season in the major leagues, much of the writing about him focuses on how Blue “never lived up to the promise” he showed that year.  

As I attempted to show in my article, Vida Blue’s 1971 season was not merely a very good season, it was an historic season that very few pitchers in the last 50 years have come close to approaching. In 1971, Blue finished the season with a 24-8 record, a 1.82 ERA, and 301 strikeouts. I looked at all of the other pitchers to strike out 300 batters in a season since 1971 to see if any of them also won 24 games during the same season. Oddly enough, Mickey Lolich achieved the same feat in 1971, as he won 25 games and struck out 308 batters. (It was Lolich’s bad luck to have his finest season the same year that Vida Blue captured the nation’s attention.) Since 1971, only two pitchers have matched Lolich and Blue’s feat. Like Blue and Lolich, these two pitchers were also left-handers.  

Steve Carlton in 1972: 27 wins, 310 strikeouts, and a 1.97 ERA. Won the pitching Triple Crown. (Leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA.) 

Randy Johnson in 2002: 24 wins, 334 strikeouts, and a 2.32 ERA. Won the pitching Triple Crown.  

And that’s it. As starting pitchers throw fewer and fewer innings, it seems unlikely that anyone will join Blue, Lolich, Carlton, and Johnson in this illustrious group.  

And Vida Blue still had other fine seasons: he won 20 games in 1973 and 22 games in 1975. He also won 18 games in 1976 and 1978. He was hardly a one-season flash in the pan.  

Of course, many of the obituaries of Vida Blue focused on his jail term and baseball suspension for cocaine use and possession. But few of them noted that Blue worked his way back into baseball, making the roster of the San Francisco Giants in 1985 after being suspended for the 1984 season. Blue wasn’t overpowering during his second tenure with the Giants in 1985 and 1986, going 18-18 with a 3.87 ERA, but the fact that he returned at all was a victory. And during those two years, Blue got his 2,000th strikeout and his 200th win, significant milestones in any pitcher’s career.  

Should Vida Blue be in the Baseball Hall of Fame? I don’t know, but he definitely deserves more consideration than he has received. It’s past time for Vida Blue to be considered on an Era Committee ballot and have his baseball peers decide if he’s worthy to be enshrined. As I wrote in 2021, I think a Black pitcher who had a fine career and also struggled with drug addiction during his career might find a more sympathetic audience now than Blue did in 1992 when he debuted on the Hall of Fame ballot. There’s also less emphasis on pitcher wins than there was in 1992, when Blue was overshadowed by the stunning group of 300-game winning pitchers he was competing with on the ballot. Blue’s career win total of 209 seems more impressive now, as well it should. And, as I never tire of reminding people, Vida Blue had a better career winning percentage than Don Drysdale.  

One of my favorite Vida Blue cards that I own is a signed 1983 Topps card. It shows Vida with the Royals, the team he spent the least amount of time with during his career. The card shows Blue wearing the powder blue road uniforms the Royals sported throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s. So, you have Vida Blue wearing powder blue, Royal blue even, and the icing on the cake is that the card is signed by Vida using a blue sharpie. It’s just perfect. 

Vida Blue was a player who will live on in the hearts and minds of baseball fans, and I’ll end this tribute with the same quote I ended my 2021 article with: In a 2017 interview with The Sporting News, Blue had this to say about the Hall of Fame: “I think if I could get in there, it would be a great honor. But until then, I’ll just bide my time and continue to be Vida Blue.”