Bob Uecker

Few Milwaukeeans have had a bigger impact in advertising on a national level than Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker. Uecker attended Milwaukee’s Boys Tech High School in the early fifties before playing Major League baseball for six years with three team: the Braves, Cardinals and Phillies. Even with a lifetime 200 batting average, Bob’s self-deprecating humor and popular comic appeal helped propel him to a Hall of Fame broadcasting career that spanned 5 decades. But it was his talent as a commercial actor that propelled him to national fame.

Despite being known in baseball circles as the man who made mediocrity famous, his work in advertising was anything but. His work as a pitchman for Miller Lite helped launch the beer brand’s stratospheric rise in popularity in the eighties. His long-running role as the disrespected and little known big-leaguer in the popular Miller Lite All-Star commercial series spawned some of advertising’s most famous phrases. Uecker’s “I must be in the front row,” phrase is still well-know today, and nosebleed seats at stadiums around the country are still called, Uecker seats.

In 1988, Uecker used his acting talents to help launch one of the State of Wisconsin Tourism’s most talked about TV spots titled, “You’re Among Friends.”  He also starred in numerous Brewer’s commercials, including the spot with Jeff Cirillo that won Best of Show at the Milwaukee ADDY awards in 1998.


The Wisconsin Advertising Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is held every year at the United Adworkers Milwaukee 99 Awards Show. For details and to purchase tickets to the show on October 12, 2017, please visit Adworkers.com.