Longtime Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker, the “Voice of the Brewers” for 54 years, passed away last month at the ripe old age of 90. This morning the Brewers announced the team will wear a memorial patch for Ueck.
The patch will adorn all Brewers uniform sleeves, beginning in Spring Training, and will have a unique touch. According to the team, the patch is a gold and navy plaid print in “honor of the colorful sportscoats Uecker wore at various times during his life.”
Specifically, the circular patch features a baseball in the center circle, with a plaid circle outside of that, with a ribbon graphic across that, containing a Bob Uecker signature inside the ribbon.
Milwaukee Brewers President and Business Operations Rick Schlesinger said, “We miss Bob every day, and all the more as we approach our first season without him at our side. Ueck was a great friend to all of us. He was a fixture at the ballpark and in our lives. We cannot fill hole that his absence has created, but the jersey patch will be a way to honor his memory whenever we take the field.”
Uecker died on January 16 after a nearly two-year battle with small cell lung cancer.
The patch will debut during Spring Training and will be worn for the first exhibition game on Saturday, February 22, when the Brewers take on the Cincinnati Reds.
Those of us of a certain vintage well remember “Mr. Baseball” as one of the stars of a certain beer campaign, and the sportscoat in which he was photographed remains an iconic image.
The plaid sportscoat that Uecker wore was even the basis for an alternate Milwaukee Admirals uniform, which the team will reprise this season.
Here’s a look at the Brewers sleeve patch as it will appear on the team’s jerseys this season.
Brewers players and fans absolutely adored Uecker (how could you not?), even going so far as to wear garish sportscoats for a charter flight from Milwaukee to Pittsburgh back in 2018.
The Brewers will hold a public celebration of life event remembering Uecker, but those details have not been announced as of yet.
The patch is a great gesture by the Brewers, and I love the patch design. While the signature and even the plaid outline probably won’t be visible from any distance, that’s not what memorial patches are for. And in this day and age of sleeve ads (the Brewers have one), it will share space on the non-advertiser sleeve with the Brewers logo.
Your thoughts?
I like this approach much more than the “name over an old-timey microphone” patch that I expected.
Ueck was one of a kind, so he deserves a memorial patch that is one of a kind as well.
Came here to say all of that. Excellent work, Brewers, no notes.
I’m pretty sure they should just permanently cartoon Uecker’s face onto Owgust, the Barrelman.
The baseball laces on the patch are going in the wrong direction on one side. Also, what’s that line under the that starts beneath the “U” and ends beneath the “c”?
It looks like an underscore of the “U” in Uecker’s signature.
DJ, I think you’re right. (I should have done some Googling). link
This is my new new favorite memorial patch. And now my Top Three favorites are all for broadcasters: Herb Carneal, Harry Carey, and Uecker.
I love this. I would also have been OK with a simple black patch, but this is unique for a unique person and broadcaster.
Brewers did a nice job. Clearly, put some effort into it. Uecker deserves the best. He was a treasure.
Home Run! He had of them!
Loved that guy, the patch is nice, not perfect but fun, just like the guy
Ugh!
14 of them
They should have enlarged the design and just replaced the wheatball patch for this year instead of riding on top of it.
That or put the wheatball as the baseball in the patch.