N.Y.Times: Sandomir: Bob Uecker Returns to the Booth

In January, three-quarters of his pancreas was removed after benign tumors were found on it. “They put me on a little bit of insulin,” he said. “A lot of people want to shoot me. So I shoot myself.”

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More bad news came in late April when doctors told him that he needed surgery to repair a leaky heart valve.

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In late July, he returned to the booth that he has shared since last season with Cory Provus.

Uecker, who is divorced and has four children, is one of a small group of baseball broadcasters whose endurance with one or more teams make them greater symbols for those franchises than most players. Ernie Harwell, Mel Allen, Red Barber, Harry Kalas, Harry Caray, Jack Buck and Bob Prince defined that role. Today, Vin Scully is in his 61st year with the Dodgers, Denny Matthews is in his 42nd with the Kansas City Royals and Dave Niehaus is in his 34th with the Seattle Mariners.

Kent Sommerfeld, the producer of Brewers radio games for 25 of Uecker’s 40 years with the Brewers, said Uecker “has seen a lot of bad baseball, but he treats every game as a separate entity, not as a package.”