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Beer Birthday: Bob Uecker

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miller-lite
Today would have been the 91st birthday of Bob Uecker, who is an “American former Major League Baseball player and later was a sportscaster, comedian, and actor, but he passed away less than two weeks ago. Facetiously dubbed ‘Mr. Baseball’ by TV talk show host Johnny Carson, Uecker had served as a play-by-play announcer for Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts since 1971. He was honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame with its 2003 Ford C. Frick Award in recognition of his broadcasting career.” But he is best-remembered, beerwise, for his humorous commercials in the 1980s for Miller Lite beer.

Miller-Lite-1982-Uecker

This is his biography, from his Wikipedia page:

Though he has sometimes joked that he was born on an oleo run to Illinois, Uecker was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up watching the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers at Borchert Field. He signed a professional contract with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956 and made his Major League Baseball debut as a catcher with the club in 1962. A below-average hitter, he finished with a career batting average of .200. He was generally considered to be a sound defensive player and committed very few errors in his Major League career as a catcher, completing his career with a fielding percentage of .981. However, in 1967, despite playing only 59 games, he led the league in passed balls and is still on the top 10 list for most passed balls in a season. At least a partial explanation is that he spent a good deal of the season catching knuckleballer Phil Niekro. He often joked that the best way to catch a knuckleball was to wait until it stopped rolling and pick it up. Uecker also played for the St. Louis Cardinals (and was a member of the 1964 World Champion club) and Philadelphia Phillies before returning to the Braves, who had by then moved to Atlanta. His six-year Major League career concluded in 1967.

Perhaps the biggest highlight of Uecker’s career was when he hit a home run off future Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, after which Uecker joked that he always thought that home run would keep Koufax from getting into the Hall of Fame.

bob-uecker-1965

After retiring as a player, Uecker returned to Milwaukee. In 1971, he began calling play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers’ radio broadcasts, a position he holds to this day. During his tenure, he has mentored Pat Hughes, Jim Powell, Cory Provus and Joe Block, all of whom became primary radio announcers for other MLB teams. For several years he also served as a color commentator for network television broadcasts of Major League Baseball, helping call games for ABC in the 1970s and NBC (teaming with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan) in the 1990s. During that time, he was a commentator for several League Championship Series and World Series.

As of 2016, Uecker teams with Jeff Levering to call games on WTMJ in Milwaukee and the Brewers Radio Network throughout Wisconsin, save for some road trips which he skips; for those games Lane Grindle substitutes for Uecker on the radio broadcasts. Uecker is well known for saying his catchphrase “Get up! Get up! Get outta here! Gone!” when a Brewers player hits a home run.

Known for his humor, particularly about his undistinguished playing career, Uecker actually became much better known after he retired from playing. He made some 100 guest appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. During one Tonight Show appearance Carson asked him what the biggest thrill of his professional baseball career was and with his typical dry wit Uecker replied, “Watching a fan fall out of the upper deck in Philadelphia; the crowd booed.” Most of his wisecracks poked fun at himself. He once joked that after he hit a grand slam off pitcher Ron Herbel, “When his manager came out to get him, he was bringing Herbel’s suitcase.” On another occasion, he quipped, “Sporting goods companies would pay me not to endorse their products.” On his later acting career, he commented, “Even when I played baseball, I was acting.”

Uecker also appeared in a number of humorous commercials, most notably for Miller Lite beer, as one of the “Miller Lite All-Stars”

Here’s a selection of some of Uecker’s commercials for Miller Lite:


From 1983:
From 1984:

From 1986:

From 1987:

From 1988:

Another one from 1988, promoting the Olympics:

Beer In Ads #3683: Miller Lite Beer Camping Trip

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Wednesday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1984. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features another celebrity roster of Lite Beer personalities on a camping trip, or at least staged around a fire. At least in this ad, there’s a key at the bottom so you can identify everybody in attendance.

Beer In Ads #3682: Bowling League For Miller Lite

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Tuesday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from the 1980s. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features a celebrity roster of former Lite Beer personalities posing as two bowling teams with the tagline “Lite Beer: The Winner in Any League.” I count at least 22 people in the ad, although I suspect part of the ad is cut off since it feels like something may be missing. I don’t know everyone in the photo, but I do see Bubba Smith, Ray Nitschke, Dick Butkus, Ben Davidson, Truman Capote, John Madden, Rodney Dangerfield, and Boog Powell. Who else do you see?

Here’s a better image of the assembled folks.

Beer In Ads #3681: Red Auerbach For Miller Lite

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Monday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1982. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features American professional basketball coach and executive Red Auerbach, who was a head coach in the NBA, most notably with the Boston Celtics. He was also the head coach of the Washington Capitols and Tri-Cities Blackhawks. As a coach, Auerbach set NBA records with 938 wins and nine championships.

Beer In Ads #3680: Miller Lite On Mt. Rushmore

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Sunday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1983. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features four Lite Beer spokesmen on caricature drawing of Mt. Rushmore, including American former professional baseball player who played first base for the Baltimore Orioles Boog Powell, American professional football player and actor Bubba Smith, American former football player, sports commentator, and actor Dick Butkus, and American football player, a defensive end best known for his play with the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League Ben Davidson.

Beer In Ads #3679: L.C. Greenwood & Bob Uecker For Miller Lite

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Saturday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1986. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one mentions American politician, actor, television presenter, political commentator, author, and retired professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, but in the text it turns out he was really American professional football player who was a defensive end for the Pittsburgh Steelers L.C. Greenwood, and there’s also American former Major League Baseball player and current sportscaster, comedian, and actor Bob Uecker as the Masked Marauder.

Beer In Ads #3678: Jesse Ventura For Miller Lite

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Friday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1989. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features American politician, actor, television presenter, political commentator, author, and retired professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, and also American former Major League Baseball player and current sportscaster, comedian, and actor Bob Uecker as the Masked Marauder.

It looks like Ventura was the ultimate winner, unsurprisingly.

Beer In Ads #3677: L.C. Greenwood & Bert Jones For Miller Lite

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Thursday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1984. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features former American professional football player who was a defensive end for the Pittsburgh Steelers L.C. Greenwood and former American football quarterback Bert Jones, who played for the Baltimore Colts and the Los Angeles Rams.

Beer In Ads #3676: Marv Throneberry For Miller Lite

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Wednesday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1982. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one features American Major League Baseball player Marv Throneberry, who was affectionately known as “Marvelous Marv.” He was the starting first baseman for the 1962 New York Mets, a team which set the modern record for most losses in a season with 120.

Beer In Ads #3675: Bubba Smith & Dick Butkus For Miller Lite

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Tuesday’s ad is for “Miller Lite,” from 1982. This ad was made for the Miller Brewing Co., and was part of their long-running “Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” advertising campaign. It was created in 1973 by the McCann-Erickson Worldwide ad agency and was ranked by Advertising Age magazine as the eighth best advertising campaign in history. They were primarily television commercials but they did create print ads to support the TV spots. They began with a trend of using former athletes along with a few notable celebrities that continued throughout the campaign. This one again features former football defensive end Bubba Smith and former football player, sports commentator, and actor Dick Butkus, this time in a ski lodge.

This one below is a little clearer, but more askew.