Bob Uecker spent his playing days with the Braves, Cardinals and Phillies. For the past 45 years, he’s been the voice of the Brewers. But the 82 year old is most closely associated with none of those teams. Thanks to a three-film run as Harry Doyle in the Major League trilogy, Uecker will is thought of by millions as the guy in the booth for the Indians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdv2Wp9MzY0
Now that Cleveland has returned to the World Series for the first time since 1997, in an effort to win the teams first championship since 1948, thousands of Uecker fans are hoping he’ll sidle up behind the mic for the Tribe one more time. So they’ve made a petition to replace Joe Buck, the hair-plug loving Fox broadcaster, with the man Johnny Carson nicknamed “Mr. Baseball.”
So far the petition has just north 17,000 signatures with a goal of 25,000. What happens when it gets there? Nothing, of course. Private companies like Fox don’t care about your dumb petitions. Still, this might inspire them to invite Uecker up to the press box for a half-inning chat with Buck and and his partner, John Smoltz. That would be a good thing. Any time someone can steal some air time from Buck, it’s to the benefit of those watching at home. If that someone happens to be a living legend like Uke, well, all the better.
But even if this petition blows past its signature goal and Fox actually cares, there would be one hurdle to getting Uecker in the broadcast booth—he’s gotta want to do it. Maybe he wants to, or maybe he’s like you, and he’d much rather not have to work during the World Series.