January 16, 2025 • 18 mins
Gary Tanguay Fills In On NightSide with Dan Rea
Former pro baseball catcher and longtime Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker has died at the age of 90. Uecker had a 70-year career in baseball, making his MLB debut in 1962 and later after his retirement as a player, became a sportscaster for the Milwaukee Brewers starting in 1971 till just prior to his death. Boston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy joined Gary to discuss the life and career of Bob Uecker.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Former pro baseball catcher and longtime Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker has died at the age of 90. Uecker had a 70-year career in baseball, making his MLB debut in 1962 and later after his retirement as a player, became a sportscaster for the Milwaukee Brewers starting in 1971 till just prior to his death. Boston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy joined Gary to discuss the life and career of Bob Uecker.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're on the night Side with Dan Ray on w
b Z, Boston's news radio and welcome back Gary Tank
Away for Dan ray tonight. Uh, before we get going here, Rob,
can we play just one of those uk We're gonna
(00:22):
bring in Dan shanty, so you can we play one
of those Yuker cuts, the first one for Bob you
could die today. We're gonna celebrate his life with Dan
and this is let's play the commercial if we can.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You know, one of the best things about being an
X Big leaguer is getting preevies to the game call
the front office bingo and once.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
These fans recognize me, I probably won't even have to
pay for my life here from Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I love them, these fans. No, I'd drink light because
it's less Philly and it tastes great good see sir
in a wrong say buddy, come on, No, I must
be in the front row. Light beer from Miller everything
you always wanted in a beer and less Let's say, hey, buddy, Hey, this.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Ta he met the tat tremendous, tremendous Bob Yuker passing
away at the age of ninety. Dan Shaughnas, who joins
us from the Boston Globe to talk about you. You know,
I was just Danny. I was just going through stuff.
Ar kre Did you know he was on the Tonight
Show like one hundred times?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh? Sure, Johnny Carson loved him. I mean that was
kind of a you know, not many guys yet that
kind of a chair as it were, where he was
an honored guest and the repeated guests, and you look
at him and they're they're really funny, and he was
in there a lot.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
He was hilarious. And then you know, I had to
look up his numbers. Two hundred batting average, two hundred
and fourteen home runs, one hundred and forty six hits,
it's seventy three at bats. And then of course, you know,
as I said before the break, he was like Tommy,
there's like two or third generations that didn't know that
this guy played. Did you how well did you know him?
(01:52):
And can you just tell us about him? Because I
was a huge fan of his.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, not real. Well, I mean, you guys, you and
you had a lot in common, of course, being you know,
card carrying movie movie stars, you know, with all the
big screen stuff that you both did and are famous for.
But you know, I was aware of him as a
as a player in the sixties when I kind of
knew every player. I knew so much more about baseball
when I was eight, nine, ten years old than I
do now in terms of who's where, who's on the teams.
(02:18):
And wasn't as munch turnover then and one of as
many teams were players. But he was, yeah, a backup catcher,
marginal guide, hardened to pronounce, hard, need to spell, all
that stuff, And he never thought much about him. But
then after his playing career was over, he emerged as this.
There had been occasional stories in sport magazine and stuff
about you know, this comedian guy was on the bench
for the Cardinals and he kicked around, but all of
(02:41):
a sudden he started showing up, like I said in films,
And it had been in Milwaukee, Gary, I mean, he
was a god. There's a statue of him outside the ballpark,
and you know, ninety years old. He had many jobs
with the organization, but all the players loved him, and
he was a certified legend walking around and he was
born there and the streets of Milwaukee, so I would
(03:04):
see him at the Hall of Fame every year, you know,
the last ten years or so in Cooperstown. He got
the Broadcast Award. He's in the Hall of Fame as
a broadcaster, you know, which is the one of the
funny things. But he references his fourteen homers. One was
off Colfax, I think one's off necro and one's off
Fergie Jenkins. Three of his home runs are off Hall
of famers. So he would always have these punch lines
(03:24):
like Cofax wasn't going to make the Hall of Fame
because I gave him a home run to him and
and all this stuff. But he, yeah, he was all
about the self deprecation. It worked well. And of course
the Miller lte stuff kind of that in the in
the film Roles kind of made him, you know, famous
to a generation of of sports fans because those commercials
just aired NonStop.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
The other legendary baseball person, wasn't it marvelous Marv Thornberry.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I mean he was, yeah, and man Thornberry was famous
as part of the original you know, we had a
short stint with the sixty two Mets, you know, worst
team everage so this year's White Sox. But he wasn't
a comedian like I mean, Yuka was a jit stand
up guy. I mean he could he could do stand
up and as you know, that's a hard thing to do.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Oh it's brutal.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
But I was just thinking those light Miller like commercials.
There are two guys that really didn't play much, but
here they had this new life with commercials. Do you
know was he any good at play by play or
did it matter?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yes? I mean according to people there, I didn't get
to hear a lot, but you know it is. I mean,
if you grew up here, you know, you joke astic
leon for today's people just retired. And when I was
a kid, it was Kurt Goudi And we've had a
lot of good ones here and Ned Martin and all
these guys. But yes, you was he was. He was
valued for that. He was a clubhouse guy. He had
(04:40):
great relationships with the players, the Brewers. You know, they
went through Rob and yeah, Paul Malader. You know they
got to the World Series eighty two, never won it.
He scouted for the team briefly bud Sea League. I
think Buzzz over ninety years old as well, so this
probably hit him pretty hard. But in terms of Milwaukee legends,
this guy would be right up there.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Hey, Rob, can we play the next thing? I was
gonna say it from the next segment, but let's play.
Let's play you from major leagues here if we can.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Put them on into the wind up. In his first offering,
Jos the bit outside. He tried the corner and missed.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
All four, all.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Eight, lo and On has walked the bases loaded on
twelve straight pitches.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Boy, how can these guys layoff pitches that close?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
How many times did we say just a bit outside?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Oh my god, it's such a I mean, everybody's ever
gotten behind the microphone's got to try it out at
least once, right, So it's a baseball staple. Now that
stuff became part of the language. And I'll tell you Gary,
I didn't know him really well, but he would make
everyone at the table feel really included that. He was
a very generous guy. He's a very fit guy. I mean,
(05:52):
he's stayed in tremendous shape, you know, kind of like
one of these guys literally into his ninety he was
still in game day shape. And and you know, made
the whole business about how bad he was. But as
as you and I know, being around it, making the
big leagues is a really hard thing to do. It
it makes you, you know, one in a million, and
(06:13):
he was that in that way. And of course with
his personality, well.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, if you hit two hundred in major leagues, I
mean in the big leagues, you're obviously you're a hell
of a player.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
But he made so.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I mean, he was awesome at being the lovable loser,
you know if you will.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
But yeah, when I saw that today, I was like, you,
geat he was. He was. Definitely he was one of
the great ones.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I mean in the light the Middle of Light campaign
included a lot of star you know, I read outback
as part of that, as you say, Tommy Heinsen, and
and really that was sort of the beginning of the
jocks getting into that sort of thing. And you see
a lot of it now. I mean, Lebron's doing them
there and and they're they're on all the time. Of course,
now they were usually betting commercials, and I suppose there
(06:59):
was no stigma about doing a beer commercial back in
those days, and a lot of them did it it,
being in with George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, all those guys.
So a lot of big figures from the sixties and seventies.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Well, my favorite Miller like well, I always loved the
ones with Tommy was in there. But when uh, who
threw Billy Marttin out of the bar? Was that Luciano
You're out of the bar?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Or was that probably? Yeah he was, he was one
of the cast members of that group.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, you're out of the bar.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
But I remember when the Madden running through the leftield
wall was also a great one.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well, Bubba Smith tearing off the can at the top
of the can, the easy opening Canva, the first the
first days of the flip top cans and Bubba just
ripped off the whole top of the can.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, I'm sure that was one take. I know Tommy.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Tommy loved those residuals back in the good old days. Dan,
can you hang out and just talk some sports with me?
Coming up next, all right, Daran Shanna guessing the Boston Globe.
We remember Bob Buker. Gotta talk to him about Brabel.
We all know Rabel. I'm anxious to get Dan's thoughts
on this coming up next on WBZ. Now back to
Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I'm WBZ News Radio. You know history always repeats itself.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Dan Shaughnessy here the Boston Globe, and I because of this,
because Dan and I have been around so long, I
often think of Shaughnessy and Dan. He's a perfect example
when I thought of you. The other day, Mike Rabel
comes to the podium. We all know Mike's gonna be
the new coach down Aaron Foxborough.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And he.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Calls out Roachie, Hey, Roachie right, and it's a big
love fest. And he goes to Kurran and he goes
to the other that's Sports Hub and everything's great. And
I remember when you wrote an article about Bob Kraft
buying the Patriots and how it was a good thing
and you warned him, you say, Robert, it's.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Not always going to be like this.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
And I just I when Vrabel it was this big homecoming,
this big love in and I wanted to call Mike
I don't have his number and say, you know, enjoy
it now, but when you start zero and four, it's
gonna change. Or if you are owned for you know
what I mean. It's it's it's I get nervous.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, you have a good memory, Gary, that was the
nineteen ninety three or four whatever, and the Governor Weld
was at the press conference and it was down and
it was you know, the team was basically being saved.
A local guy was buying a team, and there had
been the threat of James Orthwine moved him to Saint
Louis and all this stuff, so you know, we were delighted.
And Kraft had been perceived as kind of a tire
kicker and you know, checking anything that came up for sale.
(09:28):
He had owned the Boston tennis team, the Lobsters and
the kind of you know, old Carnival Barker stuff from
the seventies. So when he emerged as a buyer of
the Patriots, it was like, okay, this guy is not
going to go anywhere, and this is great. So I
wrote a you know, just whenever one of the locals like,
same way we would have supported Joe O'donnald he bought
the Red Sox or this kind of thing, It's like, hey,
this guy knows what the spawn boats are and all
(09:50):
this stuff. It was just one of those you know,
easy columns and the local guy buying the team, and
I remember he framed it. He called me the next day.
Oh was he just was so happy with this, and
I did. I said, Bob, you know, try and remember
this day because there's going to be a kind of
a point in time when you might not be that
happy with my my opinion, I said, I wrote that
because I think it's true, and that's my that's my
take today. I'm glad you like it, but there will
(10:12):
be a time and I won't be that great And
of course not great with us now, but I'm not
a fan of the owners in general in town. So
that's kind of the way that eventually works. But you know,
he's he's been a good owner. But you have good memory.
That great, it's thirty years ago and that did happen.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Oh, I love that story.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I love because it's so true and I remember it
because I had friends of mine family friends have bought
the Celtics and this was I don't want to say
names with This is when Wick and you know a
lot of owners got involved and they you know, and
I told that person, I said, you know, you might
want to you might want to unpublish your number. And
(10:47):
it's great that you guys are all getting the love now,
but it's going to change, you know, And it did.
It's just I mean, that's the way it is now.
The thing is man course, but the thing with Verbel
is well, well, first of all, I have to say,
as being a civilian, I'm just I don't get pissed
off at sports, and I never I mean I did
(11:08):
a little bit, but not as much as some other guys.
But you know, I loved Geri Mayo. I think he's
a great guy. I wish you had worked out better,
and that's just the way I feel. I'm not gonna
slam him, I thought, you know, I'm just not. And
then with Rabel, I liked Rabel a lot too, But Danny,
he's got no players and it's going to be a while.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, that woll feel good in the last few days
is a nice thing, but it doesn't really carry over
when the games start. I think that, you know, I
think better coaching can get you a little bit in
that sport, but you know, really it's procuring players and
the draft and free agents and trades or whatever you
want we can do. So they've got to beef up
the roster. But I think in that area he'll be
stronger too. And I think part of the areas is,
(11:50):
you know, hopefully we're going to see the capable coach
can control the franchise and the roster, and that worked
with Parcels. It worked with Belichier for long long time.
Bill wasn't doing great with the draft and procumbing the
players at the end, and the craft seemed to get
I thought, more involved toward the end, and the drafting
got more sketchy and and willingness to pony up and
(12:12):
reach the cap and all that stuff. So I just
hope that, you know, the Brabel, I would assume made
a condition of coming here that he has control of
the team and they're turning it back to a football guy,
which is what they do instead of you know, Jonathan
Kraft or Robin Glazer or whoever's been making Elliot Wolf.
It seems like a nice guy, but we don't have
a lot of body of evidence that he's the answer either.
(12:34):
But I think having the single voice, I think it
worked well with Parcels and Belichick, and I think it
can work well again if they let this guy do
it well.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I hope they do. And I'm sure they made assurances.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I don't know if it was in writing, which I
would feel a little bit better because I do. Look,
there's the one thing I will say about about the
Craft's family is they won. And I understand there's there's
a lot of different opinions. You know, I have different
opinions about the Celtics ownership. You know, they've won. It
(13:05):
seems they had the best attention to win. They just
got to let the guy do the job. I mean, yeah,
let him do the job. And you know, I hope
that happens.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, that that's generally been the best, the best answer
here when you have the right guy. And Mao not
his fault. He wasn't the right guy and then he
just he didn't have a great roster, but but he
was not prepared to be a head coach in the NFL,
and that's not his fault. So Rabel is Rabel's done
it for six years and and Uh is older and
(13:38):
established in the league. He was coach of the Year
once he got to the AC championship, and he knows
what he's doing. He's a little bit of a wise
ass and all that stuff that we like. So hopefully
this will be a good run.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, I think the key is I mean, if he'll
I talked to Burt Breyer earlier, and this is the
way Bert thinks it's going to go down is that
whoever he has, whoever's in the front office, whether it's
Elliot or somebody else, he's got to get. You know,
they're doing the legwork, they're doing the board, they're doing
the scouting, you know, and he'll coach.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And he can approve certain things.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
But like Bert said to me, and I didn't know this,
he goes Bill would be like in a in a
meeting on a Friday at nine about you know, who's
coming up in the next draft, you know. And Bert
seem to think that Rabel won't do that, he'll that'll
turn to other people.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Who have to bring the information to him. So hopefully
that's the case.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I do want to I do want to point out
the Celtics and how do you feel about that ownership situation.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Well, it's strange. I think the globe's going to be
Silverman's got something that there's identified for for principles to
make bids. Padle Huku group, you know, is one, and
beyond that we don't know. It's I expect sometime during
the month, and I don't know how this works when
you have four bidders and what's what's disclosed and they
got to choose one. But it's it's it's finally moving along.
(14:58):
Because it's been so quiet on that front for so long.
I'm beginning to wonder perhaps it was just tep of interest,
or the market stopping for this or whatnot. I'm not
a business guy. I really don't know, but patle Uka
express the interest out of the gate. He's been close
to a long time, and I think for fans that's
that's a desirable outcome because it's a it represents a
continuation of how they've been doing business and the same
(15:21):
guy who's been part of this for twenty three years.
So I'd be for that. But you don't know the
boogeyman that I'm out there. We don't have Jeff Bezos
or or who might be involved with the other bids.
But we're gonna find out pretty soon, I expect.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Do you think it's had an impact on the team's performance.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
No, these guys are oblivious to that. And you know
this is I don't get all loud enough about regular
season NBA, and I guess I did a little bit
when I covered the team thirty years ago, but you
know they want a championship. They have the best roster.
They're mailing in a little bit now a little too often.
They're probably not going to be the top seed now
because they've got twice as many losses as Cleveland Oak City,
(16:00):
So you could lose that in the potential playoff rounds
with those teams. But I'm still hoping for Celtics NIXT
somewhere in the playoffs, which I think would be a
good a good battle and like to see them be
competitive again. It's hard to win these things every year,
even if you have the best team, so they need
to watch it. But I don't get too toying up.
I mean ridiculous games this week, you know, losing to
(16:21):
Toronto and having a close game with the Pelicans. That's
just crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I just think it's hard to turn it back on
once you you know.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
That's again I always have to preface this.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I don't want to go old bastard, but you know,
the Larry Birds and the Bob Gibson's and the Michael
Jordan's and the Magic Johnston's they never let it slip,
you know, they never took their foot off the gas.
And yeah, and they were you know, these are all
the teams do and once you do, it's hard to
get it back.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Different league now, the knight's off and the back to
back and the low advantage and stuff and all this
stuff where they're consciously resting guys, which is really consumer
rip off for people that pay an enormous amount of
tickets and maybe this is the only game they're going too,
and Tatum's taking a night off or whatever they're they're
planned nights off and they do it, and then there's
sometimes they're playing and they're still taking the night off.
But that's been going on for a while. I understand it.
(17:10):
And you look at the wind totals, I mean the
Celtic City reference. They still they still lost, you know,
twenty twenty five games a year, so those were coming
from somewhere.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yep, Danny, it's great to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Thanks for coming on and talking about you and I
we always love seeing your stuff in the globe. You
are you are the last man standing. You are holding
everybody accountable.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I appreciate that. Gary, it's always great talking to you.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
All Right, we'll see it it, it'll be good. That's Shaughnessy.
He is the last man standing. I mean, I have
my buddies over on Sports Talk Radio two. I mean,
don't get me wrong there, those guys crack me up.
But when it comes to the the nights of the
keyboard and with a lot of facts, I mean sports Look,
I worked at sports radio for years. It's opinion, it's conjectures,
(17:58):
you know, but there's nothing like it. It's nothing like
a Blazing Shaughnessy article. Those things are just legendary.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Speaking of legends, my man Sam Metler, he is my
political friend from the West Coast. He is the most
conservative person, the most conservative liberal in Los Angeles. And
he's also dealing with the fires, so he'll update on
what's happening. He's been misplaced from his home. Don't I
think his home's okay? I'm not sure. But we'll talk
to Sam. We'll talk to him about Trump. We'll talk
(18:27):
to him about all of the nominations this week, and
that's coming up right here on WBC in the final
hour of the Dan Ratio.
You're on the night Side with Dan Ray on w
b Z, Boston's news radio and welcome back Gary Tank
Away for Dan ray tonight. Uh, before we get going here, Rob,
can we play just one of those uk We're gonna
(00:22):
bring in Dan shanty, so you can we play one
of those Yuker cuts, the first one for Bob you
could die today. We're gonna celebrate his life with Dan
and this is let's play the commercial if we can.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You know, one of the best things about being an
X Big leaguer is getting preevies to the game call
the front office bingo and once.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
These fans recognize me, I probably won't even have to
pay for my life here from Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I love them, these fans. No, I'd drink light because
it's less Philly and it tastes great good see sir
in a wrong say buddy, come on, No, I must
be in the front row. Light beer from Miller everything
you always wanted in a beer and less Let's say, hey, buddy, Hey, this.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Ta he met the tat tremendous, tremendous Bob Yuker passing
away at the age of ninety. Dan Shaughnas, who joins
us from the Boston Globe to talk about you. You know,
I was just Danny. I was just going through stuff.
Ar kre Did you know he was on the Tonight
Show like one hundred times?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh? Sure, Johnny Carson loved him. I mean that was
kind of a you know, not many guys yet that
kind of a chair as it were, where he was
an honored guest and the repeated guests, and you look
at him and they're they're really funny, and he was
in there a lot.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
He was hilarious. And then you know, I had to
look up his numbers. Two hundred batting average, two hundred
and fourteen home runs, one hundred and forty six hits,
it's seventy three at bats. And then of course, you know,
as I said before the break, he was like Tommy,
there's like two or third generations that didn't know that
this guy played. Did you how well did you know him?
(01:52):
And can you just tell us about him? Because I
was a huge fan of his.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, not real. Well, I mean, you guys, you and
you had a lot in common, of course, being you know,
card carrying movie movie stars, you know, with all the
big screen stuff that you both did and are famous for.
But you know, I was aware of him as a
as a player in the sixties when I kind of
knew every player. I knew so much more about baseball
when I was eight, nine, ten years old than I
do now in terms of who's where, who's on the teams.
(02:18):
And wasn't as munch turnover then and one of as
many teams were players. But he was, yeah, a backup catcher,
marginal guide, hardened to pronounce, hard, need to spell, all
that stuff, And he never thought much about him. But
then after his playing career was over, he emerged as this.
There had been occasional stories in sport magazine and stuff
about you know, this comedian guy was on the bench
for the Cardinals and he kicked around, but all of
(02:41):
a sudden he started showing up, like I said in films,
And it had been in Milwaukee, Gary, I mean, he
was a god. There's a statue of him outside the ballpark,
and you know, ninety years old. He had many jobs
with the organization, but all the players loved him, and
he was a certified legend walking around and he was
born there and the streets of Milwaukee, so I would
(03:04):
see him at the Hall of Fame every year, you know,
the last ten years or so in Cooperstown. He got
the Broadcast Award. He's in the Hall of Fame as
a broadcaster, you know, which is the one of the
funny things. But he references his fourteen homers. One was
off Colfax, I think one's off necro and one's off
Fergie Jenkins. Three of his home runs are off Hall
of famers. So he would always have these punch lines
(03:24):
like Cofax wasn't going to make the Hall of Fame
because I gave him a home run to him and
and all this stuff. But he, yeah, he was all
about the self deprecation. It worked well. And of course
the Miller lte stuff kind of that in the in
the film Roles kind of made him, you know, famous
to a generation of of sports fans because those commercials
just aired NonStop.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
The other legendary baseball person, wasn't it marvelous Marv Thornberry.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I mean he was, yeah, and man Thornberry was famous
as part of the original you know, we had a
short stint with the sixty two Mets, you know, worst
team everage so this year's White Sox. But he wasn't
a comedian like I mean, Yuka was a jit stand
up guy. I mean he could he could do stand
up and as you know, that's a hard thing to do.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Oh it's brutal.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
But I was just thinking those light Miller like commercials.
There are two guys that really didn't play much, but
here they had this new life with commercials. Do you
know was he any good at play by play or
did it matter?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yes? I mean according to people there, I didn't get
to hear a lot, but you know it is. I mean,
if you grew up here, you know, you joke astic
leon for today's people just retired. And when I was
a kid, it was Kurt Goudi And we've had a
lot of good ones here and Ned Martin and all
these guys. But yes, you was he was. He was
valued for that. He was a clubhouse guy. He had
(04:40):
great relationships with the players, the Brewers. You know, they
went through Rob and yeah, Paul Malader. You know they
got to the World Series eighty two, never won it.
He scouted for the team briefly bud Sea League. I
think Buzzz over ninety years old as well, so this
probably hit him pretty hard. But in terms of Milwaukee legends,
this guy would be right up there.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Hey, Rob, can we play the next thing? I was
gonna say it from the next segment, but let's play.
Let's play you from major leagues here if we can.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Put them on into the wind up. In his first offering,
Jos the bit outside. He tried the corner and missed.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
All four, all.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Eight, lo and On has walked the bases loaded on
twelve straight pitches.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Boy, how can these guys layoff pitches that close?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
How many times did we say just a bit outside?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Oh my god, it's such a I mean, everybody's ever
gotten behind the microphone's got to try it out at
least once, right, So it's a baseball staple. Now that
stuff became part of the language. And I'll tell you Gary,
I didn't know him really well, but he would make
everyone at the table feel really included that. He was
a very generous guy. He's a very fit guy. I mean,
(05:52):
he's stayed in tremendous shape, you know, kind of like
one of these guys literally into his ninety he was
still in game day shape. And and you know, made
the whole business about how bad he was. But as
as you and I know, being around it, making the
big leagues is a really hard thing to do. It
it makes you, you know, one in a million, and
(06:13):
he was that in that way. And of course with
his personality, well.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, if you hit two hundred in major leagues, I
mean in the big leagues, you're obviously you're a hell
of a player.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
But he made so.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I mean, he was awesome at being the lovable loser,
you know if you will.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
But yeah, when I saw that today, I was like, you,
geat he was. He was. Definitely he was one of
the great ones.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I mean in the light the Middle of Light campaign
included a lot of star you know, I read outback
as part of that, as you say, Tommy Heinsen, and
and really that was sort of the beginning of the
jocks getting into that sort of thing. And you see
a lot of it now. I mean, Lebron's doing them
there and and they're they're on all the time. Of course,
now they were usually betting commercials, and I suppose there
(06:59):
was no stigma about doing a beer commercial back in
those days, and a lot of them did it it,
being in with George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, all those guys.
So a lot of big figures from the sixties and seventies.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Well, my favorite Miller like well, I always loved the
ones with Tommy was in there. But when uh, who
threw Billy Marttin out of the bar? Was that Luciano
You're out of the bar?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Or was that probably? Yeah he was, he was one
of the cast members of that group.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, you're out of the bar.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
But I remember when the Madden running through the leftield
wall was also a great one.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well, Bubba Smith tearing off the can at the top
of the can, the easy opening Canva, the first the
first days of the flip top cans and Bubba just
ripped off the whole top of the can.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, I'm sure that was one take. I know Tommy.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Tommy loved those residuals back in the good old days. Dan,
can you hang out and just talk some sports with me?
Coming up next, all right, Daran Shanna guessing the Boston Globe.
We remember Bob Buker. Gotta talk to him about Brabel.
We all know Rabel. I'm anxious to get Dan's thoughts
on this coming up next on WBZ. Now back to
Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I'm WBZ News Radio. You know history always repeats itself.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Dan Shaughnessy here the Boston Globe, and I because of this,
because Dan and I have been around so long, I
often think of Shaughnessy and Dan. He's a perfect example
when I thought of you. The other day, Mike Rabel
comes to the podium. We all know Mike's gonna be
the new coach down Aaron Foxborough.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And he.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Calls out Roachie, Hey, Roachie right, and it's a big
love fest. And he goes to Kurran and he goes
to the other that's Sports Hub and everything's great. And
I remember when you wrote an article about Bob Kraft
buying the Patriots and how it was a good thing
and you warned him, you say, Robert, it's.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Not always going to be like this.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
And I just I when Vrabel it was this big homecoming,
this big love in and I wanted to call Mike
I don't have his number and say, you know, enjoy
it now, but when you start zero and four, it's
gonna change. Or if you are owned for you know
what I mean. It's it's it's I get nervous.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, you have a good memory, Gary, that was the
nineteen ninety three or four whatever, and the Governor Weld
was at the press conference and it was down and
it was you know, the team was basically being saved.
A local guy was buying a team, and there had
been the threat of James Orthwine moved him to Saint
Louis and all this stuff, so you know, we were delighted.
And Kraft had been perceived as kind of a tire
kicker and you know, checking anything that came up for sale.
(09:28):
He had owned the Boston tennis team, the Lobsters and
the kind of you know, old Carnival Barker stuff from
the seventies. So when he emerged as a buyer of
the Patriots, it was like, okay, this guy is not
going to go anywhere, and this is great. So I
wrote a you know, just whenever one of the locals like,
same way we would have supported Joe O'donnald he bought
the Red Sox or this kind of thing, It's like, hey,
this guy knows what the spawn boats are and all
(09:50):
this stuff. It was just one of those you know,
easy columns and the local guy buying the team, and
I remember he framed it. He called me the next day.
Oh was he just was so happy with this, and
I did. I said, Bob, you know, try and remember
this day because there's going to be a kind of
a point in time when you might not be that
happy with my my opinion, I said, I wrote that
because I think it's true, and that's my that's my
take today. I'm glad you like it, but there will
(10:12):
be a time and I won't be that great And
of course not great with us now, but I'm not
a fan of the owners in general in town. So
that's kind of the way that eventually works. But you know,
he's he's been a good owner. But you have good memory.
That great, it's thirty years ago and that did happen.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Oh, I love that story.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I love because it's so true and I remember it
because I had friends of mine family friends have bought
the Celtics and this was I don't want to say
names with This is when Wick and you know a
lot of owners got involved and they you know, and
I told that person, I said, you know, you might
want to you might want to unpublish your number. And
(10:47):
it's great that you guys are all getting the love now,
but it's going to change, you know, And it did.
It's just I mean, that's the way it is now.
The thing is man course, but the thing with Verbel
is well, well, first of all, I have to say,
as being a civilian, I'm just I don't get pissed
off at sports, and I never I mean I did
(11:08):
a little bit, but not as much as some other guys.
But you know, I loved Geri Mayo. I think he's
a great guy. I wish you had worked out better,
and that's just the way I feel. I'm not gonna
slam him, I thought, you know, I'm just not. And
then with Rabel, I liked Rabel a lot too, But Danny,
he's got no players and it's going to be a while.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, that woll feel good in the last few days
is a nice thing, but it doesn't really carry over
when the games start. I think that, you know, I
think better coaching can get you a little bit in
that sport, but you know, really it's procuring players and
the draft and free agents and trades or whatever you
want we can do. So they've got to beef up
the roster. But I think in that area he'll be
stronger too. And I think part of the areas is,
(11:50):
you know, hopefully we're going to see the capable coach
can control the franchise and the roster, and that worked
with Parcels. It worked with Belichier for long long time.
Bill wasn't doing great with the draft and procumbing the
players at the end, and the craft seemed to get
I thought, more involved toward the end, and the drafting
got more sketchy and and willingness to pony up and
(12:12):
reach the cap and all that stuff. So I just
hope that, you know, the Brabel, I would assume made
a condition of coming here that he has control of
the team and they're turning it back to a football guy,
which is what they do instead of you know, Jonathan
Kraft or Robin Glazer or whoever's been making Elliot Wolf.
It seems like a nice guy, but we don't have
a lot of body of evidence that he's the answer either.
(12:34):
But I think having the single voice, I think it
worked well with Parcels and Belichick, and I think it
can work well again if they let this guy do
it well.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I hope they do. And I'm sure they made assurances.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I don't know if it was in writing, which I
would feel a little bit better because I do. Look,
there's the one thing I will say about about the
Craft's family is they won. And I understand there's there's
a lot of different opinions. You know, I have different
opinions about the Celtics ownership. You know, they've won. It
(13:05):
seems they had the best attention to win. They just
got to let the guy do the job. I mean, yeah,
let him do the job. And you know, I hope
that happens.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, that that's generally been the best, the best answer
here when you have the right guy. And Mao not
his fault. He wasn't the right guy and then he
just he didn't have a great roster, but but he
was not prepared to be a head coach in the NFL,
and that's not his fault. So Rabel is Rabel's done
it for six years and and Uh is older and
(13:38):
established in the league. He was coach of the Year
once he got to the AC championship, and he knows
what he's doing. He's a little bit of a wise
ass and all that stuff that we like. So hopefully
this will be a good run.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, I think the key is I mean, if he'll
I talked to Burt Breyer earlier, and this is the
way Bert thinks it's going to go down is that
whoever he has, whoever's in the front office, whether it's
Elliot or somebody else, he's got to get. You know,
they're doing the legwork, they're doing the board, they're doing
the scouting, you know, and he'll coach.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And he can approve certain things.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
But like Bert said to me, and I didn't know this,
he goes Bill would be like in a in a
meeting on a Friday at nine about you know, who's
coming up in the next draft, you know. And Bert
seem to think that Rabel won't do that, he'll that'll
turn to other people.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Who have to bring the information to him. So hopefully
that's the case.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I do want to I do want to point out
the Celtics and how do you feel about that ownership situation.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Well, it's strange. I think the globe's going to be
Silverman's got something that there's identified for for principles to
make bids. Padle Huku group, you know, is one, and
beyond that we don't know. It's I expect sometime during
the month, and I don't know how this works when
you have four bidders and what's what's disclosed and they
got to choose one. But it's it's it's finally moving along.
(14:58):
Because it's been so quiet on that front for so long.
I'm beginning to wonder perhaps it was just tep of interest,
or the market stopping for this or whatnot. I'm not
a business guy. I really don't know, but patle Uka
express the interest out of the gate. He's been close
to a long time, and I think for fans that's
that's a desirable outcome because it's a it represents a
continuation of how they've been doing business and the same
(15:21):
guy who's been part of this for twenty three years.
So I'd be for that. But you don't know the
boogeyman that I'm out there. We don't have Jeff Bezos
or or who might be involved with the other bids.
But we're gonna find out pretty soon, I expect.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Do you think it's had an impact on the team's performance.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
No, these guys are oblivious to that. And you know
this is I don't get all loud enough about regular
season NBA, and I guess I did a little bit
when I covered the team thirty years ago, but you
know they want a championship. They have the best roster.
They're mailing in a little bit now a little too often.
They're probably not going to be the top seed now
because they've got twice as many losses as Cleveland Oak City,
(16:00):
So you could lose that in the potential playoff rounds
with those teams. But I'm still hoping for Celtics NIXT
somewhere in the playoffs, which I think would be a
good a good battle and like to see them be
competitive again. It's hard to win these things every year,
even if you have the best team, so they need
to watch it. But I don't get too toying up.
I mean ridiculous games this week, you know, losing to
(16:21):
Toronto and having a close game with the Pelicans. That's
just crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I just think it's hard to turn it back on
once you you know.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
That's again I always have to preface this.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I don't want to go old bastard, but you know,
the Larry Birds and the Bob Gibson's and the Michael
Jordan's and the Magic Johnston's they never let it slip,
you know, they never took their foot off the gas.
And yeah, and they were you know, these are all
the teams do and once you do, it's hard to
get it back.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Different league now, the knight's off and the back to
back and the low advantage and stuff and all this
stuff where they're consciously resting guys, which is really consumer
rip off for people that pay an enormous amount of
tickets and maybe this is the only game they're going too,
and Tatum's taking a night off or whatever they're they're
planned nights off and they do it, and then there's
sometimes they're playing and they're still taking the night off.
But that's been going on for a while. I understand it.
(17:10):
And you look at the wind totals, I mean the
Celtic City reference. They still they still lost, you know,
twenty twenty five games a year, so those were coming
from somewhere.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yep, Danny, it's great to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Thanks for coming on and talking about you and I
we always love seeing your stuff in the globe. You
are you are the last man standing. You are holding
everybody accountable.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I appreciate that. Gary, it's always great talking to you.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
All Right, we'll see it it, it'll be good. That's Shaughnessy.
He is the last man standing. I mean, I have
my buddies over on Sports Talk Radio two. I mean,
don't get me wrong there, those guys crack me up.
But when it comes to the the nights of the
keyboard and with a lot of facts, I mean sports Look,
I worked at sports radio for years. It's opinion, it's conjectures,
(17:58):
you know, but there's nothing like it. It's nothing like
a Blazing Shaughnessy article. Those things are just legendary.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Speaking of legends, my man Sam Metler, he is my
political friend from the West Coast. He is the most
conservative person, the most conservative liberal in Los Angeles. And
he's also dealing with the fires, so he'll update on
what's happening. He's been misplaced from his home. Don't I
think his home's okay? I'm not sure. But we'll talk
to Sam. We'll talk to him about Trump. We'll talk
(18:27):
to him about all of the nominations this week, and
that's coming up right here on WBC in the final
hour of the Dan Ratio.
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