What’s Happening in Baseball Today

The First Pitch: January 17, 2025

One of baseball’s most beloved is gone, as former catcher, actor, and long-time Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker passes from lung cancer just 10 days short of his 91st birthday. 

The Milwaukee native had an utterly unspectacular playing career, batting an even .200 for three teams over six years as a backup catcher. But his charming, self-deprecating personality was infectious, landing him a broadcast gig with the Brewers in 1971 that would last all the way through this past season. He became nationally known as a punch line in the popular Miller Lite TV ad campaigns late in the 1970s, most memorably in the commercial when he gets bumped from a front-row seat all the way up to the top of an empty third deck (“Great seats, eh buddy!?”) He parlayed his comedic persona to a career in Hollywood, starring in the six-year sitcom Mr. Belvedere and as the Cleveland Indians’ radio play-by-play guy in the 1987 movie Major League, famously calling a nowhere-near-the-plate wild pitch by Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) as “just a bit outside.” 

An institution in Milwaukee, Uecker has not one but two statues of his likeness at American Family Field, home of the Brewers: One outside the main gate, the other at the top of the upper deck behind home plate, with him stationed in his famed cheap seat. “Fifty-thousand empty seats,” he exclaimed at the latter sculpture’s unveiling. “What a ceremony!”

Uecker’s passing all but overshadows the loss of the last living player to debut before the end of World War II as Tommy Brown dies at the age of 97. The Brooklyn native made his first appearance for the Dodgers in 1944 at the tender age of 16, as major league teams scoured the country for any kind of talent as most of the regulars were in the U.S. Armed Forces; he was thus the youngest position player in NL/AL history. A year later, he became the youngest ever to belt a home run, going deep against Pittsburgh’s Preacher Roe at age 17. Though he played in the majors through 1953, his career didn’t amount to much—performing part-time at best and batting .241 with 31 home runs over 494 games. 

With Brown’s death, former MVP pitcher Bobby Shantz (who turns 100 this September) becomes the only living player to have performed in an MLB game before 1950.

It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today

1915: The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Cleveland Naps will be renamed the Indians in honor of former Native-American ballplayer Louis Sockalexis, who played a couple decades earlier for the Cleveland Spiders’ NL ballclub. The team is making the change because long-time Cleveland star hitter Nap Lajoie is no longer on the roster. “Indians” will stick until 2021, when pressure from activists and the general public persuades the franchise to be renamed the Guardians.

You Say It’s Your Birthday

Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker is 28; Atlanta reliever Joe Jimenez is 30; Mexican League star pitcher Trevor Bauer is 34; outfielder/DH of 350 homers Chris Davis is 65. Born on this date is pitcher and TGG interview subject Mark Littell (1953), four-time All-Star catcher Darrell Porter (1952), infielder, manager, and coach Don Zimmer (1931), and Hall-of-Fame catcher Louis Santop (1889).

Shameless Link of the Day

Take a look at the 10 most memorable games in Cincinnati Reds history.

And Now For Something Completely Different From TGG Co-Founder Eric Gouldsberry

From 1975-78, my father, Ray Gouldsberry, took photographs of the original San Jose Earthquakes soccer team, an ingeniously marketed collection of colorful players embraced by a growing, sports-starved community which constantly sold out ancient, cozy Spartan Stadium. Shortly after my father’s passing in 2019, I took the negatives of all the precious, invaluable photos he snapped, scanned them, and put together Our Life & Times with the Earthquakes: Images and Memories from the Glory Days of San Jose’s Original Pro Soccer Team. It’s not only a tribute to the Earthquakes and the North American Soccer League, but to my father for capturing all the wonderful memories we shared during our time as season ticket holders of the team through its entire existence (1974-84).

Much like baseball’s Deadball Era, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes looks at a similar era in soccer history when the game in America was boldly attempting to blaze its own trail clad in flamboyance and imperfection, giving the NASL vivid character. As with those early times of baseball, historical images from the NASL remain scarce and elusive, making Ray Gouldsberry’s photographic collection of the Earthquakes and other star NASL players all the more cherished.

Although the Earthquakes are the primary focus of Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes, the book also spotlights the vibrant and turbulent history of the NASL and its legendary list of stars such as Pelé, Giorgio Chinaglia and George Best (who briefly played for the Earthquakes), all through my father’s photos and the treasure trove of memorabilia I collected during those years.

Formatted at 8.25” x 8.25”, running 200 pages plus cover and containing over 200 photos, 100 images of memorabilia, and a foreword by former Quake and U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes is available for purchase on Amazon. Read and enjoy!

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