Cub fans booing Uecker thread on NSBB.com...

[Paul77]

so rluzinski--at the Brewers on deck when I got a ball signed by Uecker, the first time I've ever been within a foot of him, and he was acting like it was a pain to be there and wasn't nice at all, that is my fault?

 

 

I know this wasn't directed at me but if I may add just one thing. We got Uecker that day and while I can't say he wasn't "grumpy", keep in mind he was out there signing for an hour prior to the gates opening for the "On Deck" event. He and Mark Attanasio took part in a private signing that morning as well. Uecker was out there for a very long time signing autographs. I know it's not a "good" reason to be rude, if he was, but it could be a contributing factor.

[Patrick425]

My dad has never been a big fan of Uecker. He's always complaining about how he never tells the score. However, he also met him once and thought he was pretty arrogant.

 

It was back in the 70's. My dad was a teacher and worked odd jobs in the summer. There was a stretch of summers that he worked as an aprartment manager and showed apartements. Uecker came in with his "entourage" to one of the apartment buildings my dad worked at. He came in, sat on the couch, put his feet up on the coffee table and basically (according to my Dad's account anyways) was very rude and "snobbish" towards my Dad.

[billyhallfan]

I was there at 4 in the morning outside of Miller Park, was the first one in line. And then was first for Uecker. When he came out of the dugout some cheered, anyway, I was sitting there and he was just talking to people on the field for a few minutes which was fine. Then when he sat at the table I had my ball and the lady said that I was only allowed to get the picture cards signed. Well I'm sorry, but I wasn't waiting there all day to get a piece of cardstock signed. So I asked "He can't sign my ball?" And she never answered, Uecker just said in a mean voice, "oh just give it here." I handed it to him, and he grabbed it really hard and signed it, I said thanks, and he didn't say anything back. My freind then gave him a ball, and he said, I can't sign this. Or something to that effect, and he said, well you signed his, and he signed it angrily. Now I know that you are going to say that I shouldn't complain because he signed it, he wasn't supposed to. But it was fanfest, it is for the fans, it is only for the fans, for pure fan enjoyment, and for a Brewer icon to try and make me feel like crap I thought was wrong. I have also seen him refuse to sign autographs for just a couple people.

 

Rluz--personally I don't think it is fair for you to say that he is grumpy because people try and talk to him or get autographs, isn't that part of being a celeberty and icon? Now personally I think that no one should have to sign autographs, a lot choose to, but don't have too. But there is a right and wrong way about saying no. For example, I asked Jeff Suppan, and he said hi, waved, and just simply said he didn't have time. Uecker doesn't do that, he just ignores you.

 

Here is a story that I got from one of the autograph collectors around Milwaukee. He went to the hall of fame induction of Uecker, and took a picture of him speaking. He has tried to get that picture signed 3 times, and so far Uecker has said no, three times, he said that he won't sign it because he didn't authorize it. He also will not sign any Milwaukee Braves baseball cards. I have heard, from here, at Miller park, and on other boards, not to mention on NSBB that Uecker is a jerk.

 

He is just a grumpy old man that goes about his business and doesn't want anyone to bother him, for you to say that:

 

I have a working theory that the people who most often complain about celebrities being grumpy or unfriendly to the public are the kind of people who made them that way to begin with.

 

it is really annoying and somewhat ridiculous to think that it is the Uecker fans that are to blame for his rudeness, absolutly not. That is his fault, Vin Scully, Mike Shannon both are very freindly, did anyone drive them crazy in the 80's.

 

If you are so sure that it is the "fans" fault, are you so convinced that he would be down to earth had no one bothered him?

 

I don;t buy your theory, I am still a Uecker fan, but I don't think you can come up with a stat or graph to try and prove your theory on this one, but you always find one

[Hart Of Milwaukee]

I was with BHF that day and what I've seen from Bob in the multiple times I've seen him is that he treats most fans like their just going out of their way to bother him, and he has a tendency to be very condescending towards them. Bob is very unappreciative to the fans of Milwaukee when in fact his career would not be close to what it is now without him. I like Bob, but hes just not a very nice guy.

[Houlie24x]

Uecker always goes into the place where my brother used to work. My brother told me he was very nice and Bob even gave him tickets to two games and some Uecker nesting dolls. He also never asked for the stuff Bob just gave it to him.

[naivin]

Sorry BHF, gotta go with rluz on this one - and you provided a great example. Yes its fanfest, and yes its for the fans. That does not mean that you are entitled to whatever you want. You were told picture cards only, yet persisted because you wanted the ball signed. Who's making who feel like crap? You talk about a right way and a wrong way to say no - yet in your case he didn't say no. He said yes, even though you were told he wouldn't, but yet you complain about the manner in which he said yes. Sorry, just doesn't fly. How many examples are there of people "bothering him" for autographs or wanting a piece of him in some form or another just in this thread? Imagine that everywhere you go. But hey, you were there at 4 AM and wanted your ball signed. How dare he not sign it with a smile on his face, even though you were told he wouldn't. C'mon.

[billyhallfan]

i never siad that he had to have a smile, no where on the website, program, line, did it say that I had to get a card signed had it, I wouldn't have went there. I saw Uecker walking from the elevator once to the press box and I asked him if he would sign my ball when I was 15, and he didn't even acknowledge me. No wave, no head movement, just walked right in, and the on deck really isn't the only example. Ask anyone that has gotten an autograph of uecker and he is not freindly. Notice how he never does any autograph shows? Because he doesn't want to be with the fans, maybe that isn't fair to say that. However, uecker is not a nice guy in the 2 or 3 times I have encountered him, at the player's lot and at autographs I have heard similar stories, differnet time and place, but same mean old man.

 

I wouldn't be saying all of this if it wasn't true.

[TooLiveBrew]

I think it's really easy to take one or maybe a handful of instances and make excuses for Uecker. I think it's really hard to ignore that the overwhelming majority of fan interactions with Uecker are very, very negative. That's not making any kind of excuse or allowance to either side. I've heard the same thing many, many, many times about Uecker. I have no first-hand experience, but I don't care about autographs, personally.

 

I know Ueck shot a TV commercial (for which he was obviously compensated, and obviously agreed to do) a few years back with the father of a friend of mine. I know the father very well, he is 100% honest & genuine, and he told me Ueck got out of his limo, and said, "Let's get this the hell over with." If him not wanting to be there is the culprit, no one is forcing Bob to be there, or at any of these events. At this point in his career, he could definitely say, "Nah" to Fan Fest or whatever. Bob does these things to further serve his image and career. There's really nothing else to it. Fine by me, I could care less. But it's silly to try to dispute the fact that he can really be a jerk.

[M Skjellyfetti]

I don't have any personal insight into Bob Uecker's character, but it seems from this thread that all the examples of him being jerk-like or grumpy have some sort of tie to autograph shows/attempts to get autographs (except for the commercial shoot). As others have said, the dude must get hounded everywhere he goes, being asked by tons of people to sign this ball or that program or that body part. I can't speak from experience, but I'd wager that that could get pretty taxing on someone. He's an entertainer, not a handwriting specialist. Also, it's very possible that he had other stuff going on in his life during these grumpy instances. I guess, IMO, one shouldn't really judge a guy's character based on a couple minutes of his life.

 

As for the commercial shoot and the argument that Bob doesn't have to be at these things if he doesn't want to be, how do we know that these aren't events that his employers strongly urge him to participate in so as to help gain publicity for their broadcasts? Do we really know that Ueck has a choice of whether to show up and sign some autographs or not?

 

All that being said, it's possible he's a jerk, but I don't think that's something I personally would feel comfortable judging based on what I've heard and read in this thread.

[SeriesFinale]

I just literally can't imagine that voice that I hear saying "So long, evvv'ry-bod-y" ever snarling.

[billyhallfan]

seriesfinale, it is very wierd, but he is a completely different man off the air than on it.

[homer]

If Harry Caray were alive, I'd boo him.

[lukevan]

I shared an elevator with Uecker once. I said "Good game, Bob" and Ueck said "Yeah." And to me there wasn't much wrong with that minute response.

 

I personally don't enjoy asking someone for an autograph, just because I know it's something they get asked all the time and don't really enjoy doing, plus I don't really see the need to have someone's signature to prove that I met them.

 

It takes a special kind of person to be able to put on a happy face for the number of people that want a piece of Uecker. I don't blame him if he's standoff-ish in public, it's probably more a defense mechanism that anything else. That said it could very well be true that he isn't very nice, but being famous doesn't require you to be nice, or I should say it doesn't require that you change your personality. It's the fans that make these people famous and project their own expectations onto them IMHO.

[HebrewHammer]

seriesfinale, it is very wierd, but he is a completely different man off the air than on it.

Did you read a work of my previous post? You're surprised he's different on and off the air?!?! You're nuts, man. He's putting on a show on the air. He's a showman. It's not him, it's a personality he plays on the radio. You expect him to be that guy when you approach him asking for an autograph.

I have a post on here describing this. Please go back and read it and understand the people you here on the radio and see on TV are generally playing a character. They aren't like that in real life. Jerry Seinfeld has mentioned that fans come up to him with an expectation of who he is because they've seen him in TV and when he's not that guy, they leave angry and think he's a jerk. They think he's a jerk because he didn't act like the CHARACTER he plays on TV.

And you're getting mad because Bob doesn't act like Bob on the radio when you meet him.

[HebrewHammer]

I shared an elevator with Uecker once. I said "Good game, Bob" and Ueck said "Yeah." And to me there wasn't much wrong with that minute response.

That's the thing a lot of people don't understand. They would expect him to be "Radio Bob" and go into something funny and entertaining. But he's just a guy off the air like anyone else. If you were to share an elevator with most people and said what you did, you'd probably get a similar response. But since it's Bob and people have a false perception of who he is, they expect more. Their expectations aren't met and you end up with people thinking he's a jerk.

 

Like I said in a previous post, I met him and he was good guy. He has an ego of course but who doesn't at that point? He gave us time he really didn't have to and I'm sure he does that to a LOT of people.

 

You can't please all the people all the time.

[bjkrautk]

I shared an elevator with Uecker once. I said "Good game, Bob" and Ueck said "Yeah." And to me there wasn't much wrong with that minute response.

That's the thing a lot of people don't understand. They would expect him to be "Radio Bob" and go into something funny and entertaining. But he's just a guy off the air like anyone else. If you were to share an elevator with most people and said what you did, you'd probably get a similar response. But since it's Bob and people have a false perception of who he is, they expect more. Their expectations aren't met and you end up with people thinking he's a jerk.

 

Like I said in a previous post, I met him and he was good guy. He has an ego of course but who doesn't at that point? He gave us time he really didn't have to and I'm sure he does that to a LOT of people.

 

You can't please all the people all the time.

 

That's pretty close to my line of thinking as well. I think a lot of people feel like they know Uecker, because he's always there when they turn on the radio. That gives people the unrealistic expectation that he's going to go the extra mile for them....like a friend would. Only problem is, he's never seen you before in his life; for all he knows, you're going to be the next stalker.

 

My guess is that Uecker is a lot like the person you hear on the radio once he gets to know you. Not nearly as rapid fire with the one-liners, because he's not performing, but still willing and able to drop a line to make the other person laugh. At this point in his life, though, I don't think he's really looking for new friends....particularly not the type that start things off by want the guy's autograph.

[Crewin06]

All I know is that I would get tired sitting around at Autograph sessions and signing my name on hundreds of autographs, interacting with new people every thirty seconds. I would probably get short with people after a while also. Then I think about my Grandpa doing that and I think it would be one of the greatest SNL skitches ever.

[rluzinski]

Then when he sat at the table I had my ball and the lady said that I was only allowed to get the picture cards signed. Well I'm sorry, but I wasn't waiting there all day to get a piece of cardstock signed. So I asked "He can't sign my ball?" And she never answered, Uecker just said in a mean voice, "oh just give it here." I handed it to him, and he grabbed it really hard and signed it, I said thanks, and he didn't say anything back. My freind then gave him a ball, and he said, I can't sign this. Or something to that effect, and he said, well you signed his, and he signed it angrily.

It seems that autograph seekers condition themselves into feeling so entitled to their autographs that they mentally justify their actions while persuing them. I'm not trying to suggest that your actions were even that out of line, it's probably very innoscent compared to some of the stuff he has to deal with. Uecker probably just saw another couple of whiny autograph seekers and wanted them gone ASAP. If I had to deal with over 3 decades of thousands of autograph seekers feeling entitled to my signature , I'd be sick of them to.

I'll guarantee you that Uecker wouldn't have been gumpy to me in the above situation because I would have simply given him the glossy, said thanks and moved on. Of course, if I just happened to see him at Miller Park, I wouldn't even bother him at all.

[zachjack13]

I don't know Bob, but it would take a toll on me as well if I had to do it year after year. Sorry BHF, I know I'm your friend, but is it so hard to get a cardstock signed by Bob? I would be delighted to just get close to Bob, let alone get an autograph from him.

[pitchleague]

I'd just want to shake his hand and thank him for making my life a little bit better for six months of the year at 3 hours at a time.

 

Then, I'd move on.

[Bring Back the Stein]

Bob Uecker is infallible and any challenges to that dogma are null. The man could strangle my firstborn and still be pure as the driven snow in my mind. He will be assumed bodily into heaven.

 

Anyway, I had the chance on about five or six occasions to see him at Miller Park in his natural habitat, in the press box and in the clubhouse. Other than a grunted hello or two, I resisted the urge to try to touch the hem of his robe or tearfully throw myself at his feet or otherwise shame myself.

 

At almost every instance I saw him, he was motherflipping hilarious and gracious to a fault. He got in a gut-splitting back-and-forth with the cafeteria lady, accusing her of trying to poison him (she gave as good as she got, by the way); put on teeth-gritted grin when a sycophantic broadcaster was boring him with some useless gossip; and, in what for me was his most sublime moment, used a hyphenated and profane adjective to address the Cubs.

 

In that last bit, he was sitting in Tony Migliaccio's office (I was right outside) and venting a little bit about some fans in the parking lot who wanted to tape record him saying the phrase (I feel like I'm betraying a confidence here, so I'll leave what it was to your imagination. Just say that it would be everyone's new ring tone.) He said something like, "Can you imagine me saying that?" And then said it a few times, and finally allowed, "Hey, that's got a nice ring to it!" I haven't washed my ears since. (Or before, for that matter, but what the hell.)

 

(Edit: If anyone has a good link to the HOF speech, please post since I could use some cheering up after last night.)

[RockCoCougars]

One of my friends, who works for a MLB team, once told me that it is known around baseball that Ueck is an egomaniac and can be a real jerk. As a matter of fact the "hired help" of this team is basically told not to bother Uecker. I've also heard a few other stories around town about him treating people like dirt. Seems like a real Jekyl and Hyde when you consider his radio act. To be fair, I'm sure he has his good moments as well.

 

That said, I still love the guy because I grew up listening to him. I don't really care how he acts in public, but if I ever run into him, I think I'll keep my distance!

[rluzinski]

As a matter of fact the "hired help" of this team is basically told not to bother Uecker.

 

Why wouldn't they be told that?

[hawing]

(Edit: If anyone has a good link to the HOF speech, please post since I could use some cheering up after last night.)

 

Try this.

[billyhallfan]

rluzinski, I see your point, except the fact, and I'm not sure that you know this, and I'm not implying that you don't know what you are talking about. But Uecker has never, ever done an autograph show at a memorabilia store for money. He has never done any scheduled autograph experiences unless it was with the Brewers. He did not sign to my knowledge, and I could be wrong at a Brewers fan fest until 2006, and he then signed at this year's 2007, and he also signed for ONE autograph friday in either 03/04, other than that, he has never done autograph shows. I can see your point that the people that ask for autographs drive him nuts, and that may be, that being said though, he hardly ever signs. How can it be that "those" people in the 80's drove him nuts when he didn't sign then either. I can see your point of view I just don't agree with it, Uecker has never really signed during his whole career, this isn't a new thing.

 

Also, I don't care if people collect autograhs, but I am really getting sick of people treating the people that do around here like it is pointless.