Uecker Wants to Be on Stage Until the End

L.A. Times Archives

March 7, 1989 12 AM PT

Bob Uecker, who works for the Milwaukee Brewers as a play-by-play radio announcer when he’s not acting in TV sitcoms, doing beer commercials or soliciting votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame, is back.

Sidelined briefly by a mild heart attack in February, Uecker made his first spring training appearance of the year last weekend in Tempe, Ariz.

“It’s great to be out here again,” Uecker said. “I tell ya, if I’m going to blow out someday, I want it to be at the ballpark. Really, it’d be great. I’d blow out, they’d cart me around the field a couple of times, the fans would cheer and then, poof, out the main gate. Gone.”

Add Uecker: The 54-year-old Uecker says he is determined not to have a repetition of the attack he suffered Feb. 12. To that end, he has changed his diet and taken up running.

“The doctors have got me on this high-fiber diet, but I’m a little nervous about the (side) effects,” he said. “Dogs are starting to sniff my legs.”

Last add Uecker: “I’d like to thank all the fans for all the letters and flowers. I couldn’t believe how many flowers there were. I woke up one morning shortly after it happened and I was in kind of a fog. I saw all these flowers, but I couldn’t hear any music. I thought my wife had bought me a real cheap funeral.”

Trivia time: Their names are Mark McGwire, George Bell, Jim Rice, Tony Armas, Darrell Evans, Jose Canseco, Ben Oglivie, Jesse Barfield, Andre Dawson, Mike Schmidt and Dale Murphy. What accomplishment do they share?

298 points later: The Golden State Warriors beat the Sacramento Kings, 155-143, last Saturday.

How hot were the Warriors? So hot that they scored an NBA-record 57 points in the third quarter, one shy of the all-time record for any period.

So hot that they made 23 of 27 shots in the third period, four of them from three-point range.

So hot in the second half that they turned a 21-point deficit into a 21-point lead.

So hot, in fact, that their 155 points were the most by any Warrior team since the 169 points scored March 2, 1962 when Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 100 against the New York Knicks.

Add Warriors: Golden State Coach Don Nelson has been stressing defense all season. How did he feel about allowing the Kings 143 points?

” . . . defense,” he said. “Hey, we’re talking about offense--the best I’ve ever seen. This was not a defensive struggle. It was just one of the most unbelievable games I have ever been involved with.”

King Coach Jerry Reynolds couldn’t believe it either.

“If you said before the game that we’d score 143 points, I’d have said it’s not possible,” he said. “If you said we’d score 83 points in the first half, I’d have called you a liar for sure. Then if you said we’d do all that and still lose, we’d have had a fight and I’d have questioned your heritage. But it all happened.”

Trivia answer: They are the 11 active players who have have hit 40 or more homers in a season.

Quotebook

Herschel Walker, reacting to owner Jerry Jones’ raves about the IQ of Coach Jimmy Johnson: “If he’s got such a high IQ, he may not need players.”