Ah...but he has a quote to warm a sports parent's heart in that SI article: "The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you," he kidded. "That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud."

Wesley, Heather, Kevin, Marsha, George, and Lynn Belvedere.

I'm sick. I know this.

I shouldn't be allowed to know crap like this. Unfortunately, I retain a great deal of useless information for years and years.

As a Brewers fan since I was eight years old in 1973, I will tell you that Bob Uecker has been the highlight of the franchise since 1982, the last year the team made the playoffs. He has been the Brewers announcer since the team moved to Milwaukee from Seattle in 1970. They've been so bad the past 20 years (10 years without a single winning record) that he is often the only reason to listen to their broadcasts.

I am lucky enough to be able to see Miller Park from my windows and have met "Mr. Baseball" a handful of times, and will tell you he is as charming and funny in person as he appears to be on TV, or in the movies. Not that there's a lot to compete with, but he's truly one of the great Wisconsinites ever (I put him above both Oprah and Steve Miller in the greatest cheeseheads ever category. Yes, Oprah originally is from Milwaukee!)

In baseball terms, the only Wisconsinite who may have been as popular was "Bucketfoot" Al Simmons, who played for the Philadelphia A's in the 1920s and '30s. One year, he had 170-plus RBI. He died in the mid-1950s, and he's got a great gravestone, too: see it at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2404
(The gravestone uses his given name, Aloysius Syzmanski.)

First, I am stunned that Da Goddess recalled the names Kevin and Heather Owens from Mr. Belvedere. I would bet anyone on the street $1,000 that they couldn't name the two eldest kids from that show.

Here are some other Uecker quotes.

When asked how best to catch a knuckleball, he said, "Wait till it stops rolling."

Another time, he recounted a trip to the mound to talk to Bob Gibson. "What the hell are you doing out here?" Gibson demanded.

"Uh, I'm just on my way to center field to see Curt Flood."

More catchers in the Hall of Fame.

hmmm, catcher, katcher---

My favorite Uecker story:

When he was a teenager, a scout from the St. Louis Cardinals came to one of his high school games, and then afterwards he said to Uecker's father, "sir, we would like to sign your son for $5000."

"Come on!," Uecker's dad said, "you know our family doesn't have that kind of money!"

Congratulations to Ueck. But if he's been the highlight of Generalissimo Selig's team for the past 20 years, then that's really sad. I say that wholeheartedly, as a Twins fan.