Bob Uecker: 'When he called me about wrestling, I didn’t really want to do it', WWE Hall of Fame: 2010

27 March 2010, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Thank you very much. Thank you Richie (Dick Ebersol), long time friend. I had a lot to say but that (Antonio) Inoki guy (who spoke in Japanese) said the same stuff I was going to say. I was back there saying, ‘What’s he doing? He stole my stuff.’

Anyway, I wasn’t always a great player. People say, ‘You can talk the way you do because you were always a great ballplayer.’ Well, I wasn’t. Signed for a very modest $3000 bonus with the Braves. Which aggravated my old man because he didn’t have that kind of money to put out. But the Braves took it. And from there, I went on, was with the Braves twice actually. they didn’t believe I was as bad the first time, the second time I proved it . St Louis Cardinals where I showed up for every game, which i think showed great team spirit. And those I didn’t show up for I always tried to catch on the radio.

I played for the St. Louis Cardinals, where I won a world championship in 1964. Bing Devine was the general manager of the Cardinals at that time. He asked me to do him a favor that would really help the club. I said, ‘Sure, I’m a team guy.’ He said, ‘We want to inject you with hepatitis. That will allow us to call somebody up to take your spot.’ I said, ‘Can I sit on the bench?’ He said, ‘Yeah, we’ll put a plastic thing around you. Maybe you can go over and shake hands with some of the Yankee players and infect them.’ We went on to win the World Championship that year.

Actually, the first sport I tried when I was a youngster was football. My dad didn’t know a lot about sports but he wanted me to do what all the other kids were doing. He gets me this football. We were passing it and trying to kick it. I couldn’t throw it. He can’t throw it. We were really getting aggravated and stuff like that. Then a nice-enough neighbor came over and put some air in it, and it made a huge difference.

Actually, I took an interest in wrestling, in high school. I wasn’t a very big guy. I was about 5-11. I weighed, I don’t know, maybe 75, 80 pounds. A couple guys used to wear my supporter as a wristband. I came from a family that didn’t have a lot of money. My mother made my supporter out of a flour sack. Little specks of flower came dropping out of it. In the front, it said ‘Pillsbury’s Best.’

Tonight, I wore my Hall of Fame ring from wrestling. They gave everybody one from the WWE, thank you very much. All the other wrestlers got a diamond. I got a zircon. And theirs is not adjustable like mine. At the awarding of the championship rings the following year, that’s what every player’s dream is, a world championship. I remember opening night in St. Louis, 1965, they’re presenting the rings and they threw mine out in left field. I found it and put it on. Nobody else got theirs thrown. They had to hand it to them (shrugs).

I set a lot of records. I never stole a base in the major leagues. I never attempted to steal a base in the major leagues. I showed up for every game, which I thought showed great team spirit. The ones I didn’t show up for, I always tried to catch on the radio.

Meeting (NBC Sports and Entertainment Chairman) Dick Ebersol a long time ago. Midnight Special. Saturday Night Live. All those shows through Richie I participated in. When he called me about wrestling, I didn’t really want to do it. I was doing baseball Spring training was when Wrestlemania III was going to take place in Detroit. I kept telling him no but he came out there and we finally agreed to do it, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.

I remember going to Los Angeles to do the promotion stuff. It was Hulk Hogan, (Andre) the Giant, (Bobby) the Brain (Heenan), Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, who coincidentally said, ‘Uke, why don’t you take a picture with Damian?’ I said, ‘Who’s Damian.’ He said, ‘He’s in the bag.’ I said, ‘So am I. Give me a couple more beers.’ So he took the snake out and I put him around me. He said, ‘Don’t worry. He’s big and he's strong.’ He got his tail around my leg and I’m holding him and I’m looking at Jake and he’s got this huge scar right here (on his chest). I said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘That’s where Damian bit me.’ I said, ‘Oh, what a great time that must be. I hope he bites me, too.’

I remember the one thing with Jake with Donald Trump’s wife, Ivana. He put that snake down at her feet and she left Wrestlemania so fast, she just left Donald there and she ain't seen him since, I guess.

We did the promotional stuff. I got to work with Mary Hart. Beautiful lady, great sport and all that. When we go to Detroit to do the show, I’m having the time of my life. And when the Giant came out and choked me, and let me go, I didn’t know he was going to do that. I really didn’t. I was supposed to talk about Vanna White. He didn’t care about Vanna White. He wanted to kill somebody. When he choked me and let me go, now if the camera stays on, you see me on top of Andre. Oh yeah. Vince McMahon was screaming, ‘Get off him. He’s got a match.’ I got him in a step-over toe hold, I don’t really know what it was. It wasn’t all Andre. I remember later on, when I was changing underwear (laughter)… I wasn't going to let that guy get away with that.

As I said earlier, some of the greatest times I’ve had in sports, entertainment, anything else, was to be around Richie, Vince McMahon and all these wrestling greats. The old-timers back there, back when I wrestled, I think got more interested in wrestling, when I was 8 or 9 years old, my mother started taking in wrestler’s laundry to make a couple extra bucks. I remember taking Dick ‘The Bruiser’s’ tights and putting them on. They were tight, nice. He came in the booth one day. I was doing play by play, imitating Dick ‘The Bruiser.’ (Gruff voice) Swing and a miss, struck him out. One day he came in and said, ‘Let’s see if you think you’re funny now.’ He was a football player with the Green Bay Packers, Dick ‘The Bruiser.’ All the wrestlers that came to Milwaukee in those years wrestled at the (indistinguishable) Hall. I started becoming a wrestling fan. I got a kick out of that. I still do today. Unbelievably strong, athletic. It reminds me of myself when I was younger.

When I look back, I was a right-handed-hitting, strikeout artist. Sooner or later, I was going to hit .200. It tied me with another sports great, Don Carter, one of our top bowlers. To have been a member of baseball team, to broadcast baseball today, to mess around with television shows and movies and all of this stuff, and tonight especially to be here with you. When I walked in here tonight and looked around, I said, ‘Man, this pace is jam packed.’ I know it will be tomorrow, too, for Wrestlemania. I'll be there, too.

Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your time tonight and patience. To all the members of the WWE, like I said before, great athletes, unbelievable entertainment. I don’t know how you guys do it, I really don’t All the body punches you take. That’s why I didn’t want to play and get hurt. Getting a hit once a month was OK. Hitting .200, that was OK. If you did more, they’d expect more of you. One hit a year, let’s leave it at that. Anyway, thank you very much for your time. Thank you."

Bob Uecker: 'My mother and father were on an oleo margarine run to Chicago back in 1934', Fricke Award, Baseball Hall of Fame - 2003

27 July 2003, Cooperstown, New York, USA

Thank you, Joe, thank you very much. And thank you ladies and gentlemen. And my congratulations to Hal (McCoy / winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 2003), Gary Carter, Eddie Murray, and to all of the members of the staff of the Hall of Fame, thank you very much. This has been a wonderful, wonderful time.

I, in deference to Hal McCoy, was asked to quit many times.

I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Actually, I was born in Illinois. My mother and father were on an oleo margarine run to Chicago back in 1934, because we couldn't get colored margarine in Wisconsin. On the way home, my mother was with child. Me. And the pains started, and my dad pulled off into an exit area, and that's where the event took place. I remember it was a nativity type setting. An exit light shining down. There were three truck drivers there. One guy was carrying butter, one guy had frankfurters, and the other guy was a retired baseball scout who told my folks that I probably had a chance to play somewhere down the line.

I remember it being very cold. It was January. I didn't weigh very much. I think the birth certificate said something like ten ounces. I was very small. And I remember the coldness on my back from the asphalt. And I was immediately wrapped in swaddling clothes and put in the back of a '37 Chevy without a heater. And that was the start of this Cinderella story that you are hearing today.

I did not have a lot of ability as a kid, and my dad wanted me to have everything that everybody else had. I think the first thing that he ever bought me was a football. And I was very young. He didn't know a lot about it, he came from the old country. I mean, we tried to pass it and throw it and kick it, and we couldn't do it. And it was very discouraging for him and for me. Almost, we almost quit. And finally we had a nice enough neighbor, came over and put some air in it, and what a difference.

I got a lot of my ability from my father. As a lot of these other guys did. My father actually came to this country as a soccer player. He didn't play, be blew up the balls is what he did. And they didn't have pumps in those days. And to see a man put that valve in his mouth and insert it into a soccer ball, and blow thirty pounds of air. And then have the ability to pull that thing out without it fracturing the back of his mouth was unbelievable. You had to see his neck and his veins popping. It was unbelievable. How proud I was as I watched him do it time after time.

My first sport was eighth grade basketball. And my dad didn't want to buy me the supporter johnny, you know, to do the job. So my mother made me one out of a flour sack. And the tough thing about that is, you put that thing on, you whip it out of your bag in the gym. You know all the guys are looking at it. And you start the game. The guy guarding you knows exactly where you're going since little specks of flour keep dropping out. And then right down the front it says 'Pillsbury's Best.'

I signed a very modest $3,000 bonus with the Braves in Milwaukee, which I'm sure a lot of you know. And my old man didn't have that kind of money to put out. But the Braves took it. I remember sitting around our kitchen table counting all this money, coins out of jars, and I'm telling my dad, 'Forget this, I don't want to play.' He said, 'No, you are going to play baseball. We are going to have you make some money, and we're going to live real good.' My dad had an accent, I want to be real authentic when I'm doing this thing. So I signed. The signing took place at a very popular restaurant in Milwaukee. And I remember driving, and my dad's all fired up and nervous, and I said, 'Look, it will be over in a couple of minutes. Don't be uptight.' We pull in the parking lot, pull next to the Braves automobile, and my dad screwed up right away. He doesn't have the window rolled up far enough and our tray falls off and all the food is on the floor. And from there on it was baseball.

Starting with the Braves in Milwaukee, St. Louis, where I won the World's Championship for them in 1964, to the Philadelphia Phillies and back to the Braves in Atlanta, where I became Phil Niekro's personal chaser. But during every player's career there comes a time when you know that your services are no longer required, that you might be moving on. Traded, sold, released ,whatever it may be. And having been with four clubs, I picked up a few of these tips. I remember Gene Mauch doing things to me at Philadelphia. I'd be sitting there and he'd say, 'Grab a bat and stop this rally.' Send me up there without a bat and tell me to try for a walk. Look down at the first base coach for a sign and have him turn his back on you.

But you know what? Things like that never bothered me. I'd set records that will never be equaled, 90% I hope are never printed: .200 lifetime batting average in the major leagues which tied me with another sports great averaging 200 or better for a ten-year period, Don Carter, one of our top bowlers.

In 1967 I set a major league record for passed balls, and I did that without playing every game. There was a game, as a matter of fact, during that year when Phil Niekro's brother (Joe) and he were pitching against each other in Atlanta. Their parents were sitting right behind home plate. I saw their folks that day more than they did the whole weekend.

But with people like Niekro, and this was another thing, I found the easy way out to catch a knuckleball. It was to wait until it stopped rolling and then pick it up. There were a lot of things that aggravated me, too. My family is here today. My boys, my girls. My kids used to do things that aggravate me, too. I'd take them to the game and they'd want to come home with a different player. I remember one of my friends came to Atlanta to see me once. He came to the door, he says, 'Does Bob Uecker live here?' He says, 'Yeah, bring him in.' But my two boys are just like me. In their championship little league game, one of them struck out three times and the other one had an error that allowed the winning run to score. They lost the championship, and I couldn't have been more proud. I remember the people as we walked through the parking lot throwing eggs and rotten stuff at our car. What a beautiful day.

You know, everybody remembers their first game in the major leagues. For me it was in Milwaukee. My hometown, born and raised there, and I can remember walking out on the field and Birdie Tebbetts was our manager at that time. And my family was there: my mother and dad, and all my relatives. And as I'm standing on the field, everybody's pointing at me and waving and laughing, and I'm pointing back. And Birdie Tebbetts came up and asked me if I was nervous or uptight about the game. And I said, 'I'm not. I've been waiting five years to get here. I'm ready to go.'

He said, 'Well, we're gonna start you today. I didn't want to tell you earlier. I didn't want you to get too fired up.'

I said, 'Look, I'm ready to go.'

He said, 'Well, great, you're in there. And oh, by the by, the rest of us up here wear that supporter on the inside.' That was the first game my folks walked out on, too.

But you know, of all of the things that I've done, this has always been number one, baseball. The commercials, the films, the television series, I could never wait for everything to get over to get back to baseball. I still, and this is not sour grapes by any means, still think I should have gone in as a player. Thank you very much.

The proof is in the pudding. No, this conglomeration of greats that are here today, a lot of them were teammates, but they won't admit it. But they were. And a lot of them were players that worked in games that I called. They are wonderful friends, and always will be. And the 1964 World's Championship team. The great Lou Brock. And I remember as we got down near World Series time, Bing Devine, who was the Cardinals' general manager at that time, asked me if I would do him and the Cardinals, in general, a favor. And I said I would. And he said, 'We'd like to inject you with hepatitis. We need to bring an infielder up.' I said, 'Would I be able to sit on the bench.' He said, 'Yes, we'll build a plastic cubicle for you because it is an infectious disease.' And I've got to tell you this. I have a photo at home, I turned a beautiful color yellow and with that Cardinal white uniform. I was knocked out. It was beautiful, wasn't it, Lou? It was great.

Of course, any championship involves a World Series. The ring, the ceremony, the following season in St. Louis at old Busch Stadium. We were standing along the sideline. I was in the bullpen warming up the pitcher. And when they called my name for the ring, it's something that you never ever forget. And when they threw it out into left field. I found it in the fifth inning, I think it was, Lou, wasn't it? And once I spotted it in the grass man, I was on it. It was unbelievable.

But as these players have bats, gloves…I had a great shoe contract and glove contract with a company who paid me a lot of money never to be seen using their stuff. Bat orders…I would order a dozen bats and there were times they'd come back with handles at each end. You know, people have asked me a lot of times, because I didn't hit a lot, we all know that, how long a dozen bats would last me? Depending on the weight and the model that I was using at that particular time I would say eight to ten cookouts.

I once ordered a dozen flame-treated bats, and they sent me a box of ashes, so I knew at that time things were moving on. But there are tips that you pick up when the Braves were going to release me. It is a tough time for a manager, for your family, for the player to be told that you're never going to play the game again. And I can remember walking in the clubhouse that day, and Luman Harris, who was the Braves' manager, came up to me and said there were no visitors allowed. So again, I knew I might be moving on.

Paul Richards was the general manager and told me the Braves wanted to make me a coach for the following season. And that I would be coaching second base. So again, gone.

But that's when the baseball career started as a broadcaster. I remember working first with Milo Hamilton and Ernie Johnson. And I was all fired up about that, too, until I found out that my portion of the broadcast was being used to jam Radio Free Europe. And I picked up a microphone one day and my mic had no cord on it, so I was talking to nobody. But it's such a wonderful, wonderful thing today to be here. And one of my first partners was mentioned earlier, Merle Harmon, and Tom Collins, he's here today. All of those who I have worked with from Merle to Lorn Brown to Dwayne Mosley, Pat Hughes, who now works for the Chicago Cubs, and my current partner today, Jim Powell and Kent Summerfeld. My thanks to all of you.

To my good pal Bob Costas out there. Thank you, Bobby. All of the network people, that has been as much a part of broadcasting for me as anything. The days with ABC and 'Monday Night Baseball' with the late Bob Prince and Keith Jackson and Al Michaels and my great pal, Don Drysdale. All of those people have played such a big part in me being here today. Dick Ebersol, the head of NBC Sports. All of them are a big part of what I am. My family is seated over here. I love them very much.

Ulice Payne is here, the president of the Brewers. The commissioner of baseball is a guy that gave me my start. He said, 'I want to bring you back to Milwaukee.' And I said, 'I'll come.' And here I am, 33 years later. Thank you, Al. I call him Al, Bud Selig. Wife Sue is here. To all of my Brewer family, Wendy, Laurel Selig… Wendy Selig-Prieb, Laurel Prieb. Tony Migliaccio, one of my great friends. Mike LaBoe, all my people. Jon Greenberg, I didn't even know you were here. You took care of Hal McCoy, what the hell's going on. But all of these people play such a big part in all of our lives.

And to all of you baseball fans around America and any place else, for your letters, your thoughts, your kindness, for all of these years, it's been a great run, but number one has always been baseball for me. No matter what else I ever did, baseball was the only way I wanted to go. I thank you very much for your attention today, thank you for having me, and congratulations to everybody here. Thank you very much everybody, thank you.