From the editor: Losing my favorite ‘boy of summer’

It’s the first warm spring day in May and the Milwaukee Brewers have a day game, the window is open and as the warm breeze flows in, you hear Bob Uecker say, “And the ‘petch’…”

The atmosphere is one of comfort and familiarity that Brewers fans will never experience again after the recent passing of Uecker.

The longtime Brewers announcer was a constant in many a fan’s life from the day they were old enough to attend a game or turn on the radio.

And it’s not just the fans.

Seasoned Central Wisconsin broadcaster/Packerland Co-editor Mike Warren, who has spent three decades calling sports, said that Uecker had a large influence on his style and sound.

“I remember my mom asking me one day, ‘Are you trying to sound like Bob Uecker or does it just come out of you?’ And I'm like, ‘You know, I'm not trying. It's just, you know, he was part of your subconscious.’ If you're a broadcaster, you just can't help having him in your brain somewhere, and that was the impact I think he's had on a lot of us over the years,” Warren told Bill Michaels on Jan. 16, the day Uecker’s passing was publicly announced by the Brewers.

“He's the voice you hear in your head when you're watching a baseball game and calling one on the air. And for me, it will forever be there and it's just a memory that I have of him.

“And the game itself was a total byproduct of what you were hearing on the radio, just stories of him traveling on trains and busses between games and stuff like that. It took you to an era that obviously most of us didn't live through. And so it brought life to a game that existed before we were even here, which was just phenomenal.”

For me, my thoughts of Uecker will always go back to my nephew.

As a young boy, my nephew was honored by the local Optimist Club, where he received the privilege of returning the tee at a Wisconsin Badgers Football Game.

I won’t mention the team’s name, but one of the opponent’s players decided that it would be funny to run out in front of my nephew and steal the tee away before he had a chance to grab it.

Needless to say, this did not go over very well for the young boy who lived for sports and highly anticipated the moment he would be able to run out on the Wisconsin Badgers football field.

Seeing how devastated he was, I thought of the man that my nephew looked up to at the time — the man he referred to as “Bob Buecker.”

I wrote a letter to Uecker telling him of my nephew’s devastating experience.

Within a week, my nephew received a package of memorabilia in the mail with a note from Uecker.

The fact that Uecker went out of his way to help cheer my nephew did not surprise me, it was the speed in which he did it and the note that touched my heart.

From that day forward, I’ve had a great deal of respect for him.

Two media commitments have brought me within proximity of the longtime announcer since that day, and I’ve watched him take time to be present when meeting fans.

Uecker was a class act and a great role model for our state.

Someone will be able to fill his role, but I doubt that anyone can fill his shoes.

So long to my favorite ‘boy of summer.