NEWS BLOG (WSAU) What I’m about to say is sacrilege. Bob Uecker is not a great play-by-play announcer. I suspect his eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be. When he’s doing play-by-play he constantly loses the count, and when there are runners on base he often forgets to tell us if the runner advanced to second or third. When I’m listening to ‘Uke call a game, strike three sneaks up on me and I don’t know if there’s a runner on third base waiting to score on a fielders choice or a sacrifice fly.

And none of that matters.

Bob Uecker is the best storyteller in baseball. Maybe the best of all time.

He has a gift for taking everyday stories about a sport everyone knows and loves, and tells them with a personalized wit that no one else has. He’s naturally funny. And the number one rule of broadcasting… for newspeople, for disc jockeys, for talk show hosts, and sports announcers is this: be interesting. No one will listen to anyone who isn’t compelling to the ears. And Bob Uecker is always interesting. And that’s so much more important than his occasionally-inaccurate play-by-play.

Corey Provis is a very good technical announcer. He gets all the stuff right. But Bob is a personality. He transcends the technical parts of radio broadcasting. He’s also 75. Let’s enjoy him as long as we have him. Bob Uecker is one of the great voices of summer. I’m delighted that he’s back on Friday.

Chris Conley
Operations Manager, Midwest Communications-Wausau
7.21.10