Moving day for Bob Uecker

St. Louis does a little house cleaning 59 years ago today as they send backup catcher, class clown and wannabe musician Bob Uecker – yes, that Bob Uecker – to the Philadelphia Phillies in a six-player trade that ships outfielder Alex Johnson, pitcher Art Mahaffey and catcher Pat Corrales to the Cardinals.

Philadelphia does just fine with the rest of the deal, too, as the Phillies also acquire first baseman Bill White and shortstop Dick Groat from St. Louis.

Uecker spends a season-plus playing for Philadelphia, where he hits seven of the 14 homers he accumulates during six seasons in the majors.

Uecker, a career .200 batter, hits – at least for him – a robust .202 in 96 games in 1966 for the Phillies, who then flip him to the Atlanta Braves midway through the 1967 season for utility player Gene Oliver.

Bob Uecker with Johnny Carson

The Phillies eventually flip Oliver after the 1967 season, sending him to Boston in another trade that brings longtime catcher, and later longtime coach, Mike Ryan to the Phillies.

“My managers didn’t want me in the game,” Uecker once tells author Curt Smith. “Heck, they didn’t want me on the bench. Kids ask which club I played for. Nobody, but I sat for a lot.”

Uecker goes on to become a regular guest on the Johnny Carson Show, where his brilliant, self-deprecating humor finds a national audience.

That exposure eventually leads Uecker to star in television, commercials and motion pictures.

All, of course, showcasing his comedic side.

“I think my top salary (in baseball) was maybe in 1966,” Uecker once says. “I made $17,000, and 11 of that came from selling other players’ equipment.”

Bob Uecker, Hall of Famer

Along the way, Uecker – now three months shy of his 91st birthday – spends 54 seasons, including 2024, broadcasting games for his hometown Milwaukee Brewers.

He does take time out in the middle of the 2003 season to be inducted into broadcast wing of the Hall of Fame.

“I could have left (Milwaukee) a long time ago, but no matter what I do, I’m staying,” an out-of-character-serious Uecker tells the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

“All the television stuff, the movies, the sitcoms, the commercials, that’s all fun. All I wanted to do is come back to Milwaukee every spring to do baseball.”