The Milwaukee Brewers won their first World Series championship in franchise history on Wednesday night, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Moments after the final out, outfielder Christian Yelich turned the celebration into a tribute to Bob Uecker, the longtime Brewers broadcaster who died last year.
“He’s smiling, man,” Yelich told Ken Rosenthal on the Fox broadcast. “I really wish he could have been here to see this. It would have meant everything to him, but we said a bunch, he’s been with us a lot. We keep him close to our hearts, and this one’s still for Bob and still for Ueck. Ueck, I love you, man, and we did it.”
Uecker called Brewers games for 54 years and became one of the most recognizable and beloved voices in baseball. He died on Jan. 16, 2025, at age 90 after a private battle with cancer.
Before Wednesday’s first pitch, fans left beer cans at Uecker’s statue outside the ballpark, according to a report from TMJ 4.
Tributes to the broadcaster continued after the game ended. Hall of Famer CC Sabathia, who played for the Brewers in 2008, wrote on X, “Bob Uecker smiling down.”
The night before, during the Game 4 broadcast, Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Davis had already honored Uecker’s legacy. Calling a 12th-inning solo home run by Cooper Pratt, Davis echoed Uecker’s famous home run call.
“Hitting a high drive! Deep left field! Get up, get up, gone!” Davis said, a nod to Uecker’s signature “Get up, get up, get outta here, gone!”
Davis later told MLB.com that Uecker’s influence shaped how he calls games. “Ueck is obviously a guy that you grew up listening to and was underrated because he was such a comic genius that his ability to master the craft and be an amazing play-by-play announcer didn’t get enough love,” Davis said. “I say that to say I was always studying him and listening to him, and just by osmosis, that stuff is in there.”
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