Bob Uecker to the DL

I've always been amazed at how a guy like Bob Uecker, someone who is so strongly recognized nationally, has chosen to stay in Milwaukee throughout his career. Even if you know nothing about baseball or the Brewers, you know who Bob Uecker is. However, not everyone is as lucky as we are to be able to listen to his voice while enjoying a perfect Wisconsin summer evening. For the next couple of months however, that is not going to be the case.

Uecker will be sidelined for the next 10-12 weeks as he'll be recovering from the heart surgery he will be undergoing on Friday morning. A heart murmur was detected in Mr. Baseball last September, but it only recently came to the point where something needed to be done about it, as the diagnosis is now a leaking aortic valve.

Uecker made the announcement on Tuesday morning, in a press conference that was attended by a handful of current Brewers players. Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Trevor Hoffman, Casey McGehee, Craig Counsell, Jim Edmonds, and Ken Macha were all in attendance, something which to me shows how Bob Uecker is more than just a radio announcer and is actually a part of this team. Good luck obviously to Bob Uecker and to a speedy recovery.

Uecker did do the announcing for Tuesday night and is going to do the work on Wednesday as well. After that, Corey Provus will take over as the play-by-play announcer for the full nine innings of work. That's a relief to those of us who thought Davey Nelson would actually be calling innings when it was announced that he would be working radio broadcasts in the interim. Nelson will solely be doing the color commentary though, and again Provus will take care of the actual announcing.

Again though, best of luck to Uecks and we hope to hear you again soon.