Downtown Tailgate Party Will Celebrate New Bob Uecker Mural
Lunchtime party Tuesday includes free beer, brats and entertainment.
Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker mural on 731 N. Jackson St. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.
Milwaukee will celebrate its new, larger-than-life tribute to Bob Uecker with free beer, brats and a downtown tailgate Tuesday.
The June 30 event will mark the completion of “Mr. Baseball,” an 80-foot-wide, 100-foot-tall mural depicting the longtime Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcaster speaking into a microphone. The mural now overlooks Downtown from the north wall of the Wintrust building, 731 N. Jackson St.
The celebration begins at 11:30 a.m., when organizers will start distributing 500 cans of Miller Lite for a commemorative toast. The beer, which was long advertised in commercials featuring Uecker, is limited to guests of legal drinking age.
Brewers broadcaster Lane Grindle will emcee a noon program featuring Mayor Cavalier Johnson, muralist Mauricio Ramirez, representatives of the Brewers and the organizations that sponsored the project. Members of Uecker’s family are also expected to attend.
The toast is scheduled for 12:30 p.m., followed by Ramirez signing his latest and largest Milwaukee mural.
The tailgate will continue until 2:30 p.m., with 500 free brats, ballpark snacks and bottled water available while supplies last. Entertainment and games will be provided by the Brewers Dance Crew, DJ James, Bernie Brewer, Barrelman and the racing sausages.
The celebration marks the formal completion of the mural, which was painted from mid-May through mid-June.
Ramirez’s design depicts Uecker in the role Milwaukee knew him best: behind the microphone as the Brewers’ radio play-by-play announcer. Uecker held the job for 54 seasons before his death in January 2025 at age 90. A native of Milwaukee, Uecker played as a catcher for the Milwaukee Braves and St. Louis Cardinals before going into broadcasting.
“I think what Bob Uecker means to Milwaukee is super important,” Ramirez told Urban Milwaukee reporter Sophie Bolich as work began. “What better way to honor him than a 100-foot mural to really match his boldness, attitude and style?”
Ramirez titled the mural “Mr. Baseball,” embracing the nickname given to Uecker by television host Johnny Carson. Its blue-and-gold design incorporates approximately 150 colors and line work intended to evoke the retractable roof structure at American Family Field.
“Bob loved Milwaukee and greatly appreciated the connection he had with the city,” Bob Uecker Jr. said in a statement when the project was announced. “The community’s gesture to commemorate that connection is deeply touching. This mural will serve as a reminder of the enduring relationship between the two.”
An affiliate of JE Hoffman Management Company, which owns the mural, commissioned the mural with support from The Westin Milwaukee, We Energies Foundation, Milwaukee Downtown, Business Improvement District #21 and Visit Milwaukee. In the past decade, Milwaukee Downtown has coordinated several murals around downtown.
The work joins more than a dozen other downtown murals painted by Ramirez, including the 53-foot Giannis Antetokounmpo mural at 600 E. Wisconsin Ave., the “Heart and Sol” mural at 728 N. James Lovell St. and 10 geometric utility-box murals along Wisconsin Avenue.
The downtown celebration will serve as a prelude to that evening’s Brewers game. Milwaukee will face the Cincinnati Reds at 6:40 p.m. at American Family Field. Discounted tickets are available using the promotional code 26UECKER.
The 108,214-square-foot, nine-story Wintrust building is anchored by the main Milwaukee office of Wintrust, which previously acquired Town Bank. Bear & Bean cafe is located on the first floor.
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