ESPN delivers touching tribute to Bob Uecker ahead of Yankees-Brewers Opening Day game

The start of the 2025 MLB season for the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday marks the first time since 1971 that legendary radio broadcaster Bob Uecker will not be on the call for the team’s opening game following his death back in January. And in honor of the legacy that Uecker leaves behind, ESPN put together a compilation of some of his best calls over the years.

ESPN play-by-play man Joe Buck, who returned to a national baseball audience on Thursday for the first time since the 2021 World Series, offered some kind words leading into the compilation, calling Uecker the “patriarch” of the Brewers organization.

“As we welcome you back to Yankee Stadium, we at ESPN are going to start this game the best way we can,” said Buck. “By paying tribute to the wonderful Bob Uecker. In some ways, the patriarch of the Brewers family and organization. The beloved Milwaukee-born voice of the team passed away in January at the age of 90.”

Bill Schroeder, the TV color analyst for the Brewers who joined Buck and Joe Girardi on the call for Thursday’s game, spoke about his late friend and former colleague on the broadcast, detailing some of the lessons he learned being around Uecker for over 40 years.

“For 40-plus years, I knew Ueck,” said Schroeder. “No one loved the game, nobody loved the Brewers, nobody loved Milwaukee more than Bob Uecker. He cherished every day at the ballpark. Had integrity, loyalty, class, had time for everybody and anybody. He taught us to respect the game, respect the players, and always cherish what we do for a living, coming to the ballpark and doing baseball games. He is missed, there is a big hole in the heart of the Brewer family. And you know he is looking down upon them and hoping to get a World Series.”

ESPN honored Bob Uecker before the start of the Brewers vs. Yankees game.

“No one loved the game, nobody loved the Brewers, nobody loved Milwaukee more than Bob Uecker,” Bill Schroeder. pic.twitter.com/0aQTUS4G61

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 27, 2025

We have seen countless members of the Brewers organization speak to the kind of impact that Uecker had in the clubhouse in light of his passing. And this public tribute to a national audience from ESPN only further emphasizes how Uecker made an impact on everyone he came into contact with.