Bob Uecker passed away this week. Mr. Uecker was known for his quick wit and self-deprecating stories about his abilities on a baseball field. Still, we can’t forget that he was a Major League Baseball player, one of only 23,000 to ever play at this level since the 1800s. To be a Major Leaguer, you must have a lot of skill, ability, and confidence and he showed that confidence after being traded to the Atlanta Braves in 1967. During my interview with Phil Niekro, Phil told me how Mr. Uecker made his Hall of Fame career.

Per Phil Niekro

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Paul Richards, Baltimore Orioles GM & manager, had some knuckle­ball pitchers over there with the big gloves for the catchers. Paul Richards came to Atlanta as the GM, and he brought that big glove over with him. Other than that, catchers always caught with the small glove. He brought that over from Baltimore, and he really turned my career on; him and Bobby Uecker.

 (Bob Uecker?) Yeah. When I first broke in the minor leagues, Milwaukee and Atlanta catchers would not call that knuckleball in late-innings, bases-loaded, three-two count, men-up situations. They wouldn’t call it, so I’d be taken out of the games, and Richards came down, he traded Gene Oliver from the Braves, a catcher to Philadelphia for Bob Uecker; catcher for catcher, because Bob was a good defensive catcher and when he came to Atlanta, he said “I don’t think they care if I hit a hundred, I’m going to call that knuckleball where the other guys wouldn’t call it. I’m going to call it bases loaded, 3-2, tie ballgame.”

“Some will get by me, but you’re going to win more.” In that year, I led the league in ERA; he led the league in pass balls (laughing) the same year . . . but Uecker’s the one who said, “I’m going to call it, you throw it.”

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That’s what I call a teammate. He sacrificed his statistics (passed balls) for Phil’s (ERA leader).

I never had the honor of interviewing Mr. Uecker, but I’m sure I would have felt like I was sitting in the “Front Row!”

RIP Mr. Bob Uecker – Baseball Hall of Fame (2003)