Robin Yount

Robin Yount
Yount coaching with the Brewers in 2006.
Shortstop / Center fielder
Born: (1955-09-16) September 16, 1955 Danville, Illinois
Batted: Right Threw: Right
debut
April 5, 1974, for the Milwaukee Brewers
Last appearance
October 3, 1993, for the Milwaukee Brewers
Career statistics
Batting average	.285
Hits	3,142
Home runs	251
Runs batted in	1,406
Teams
Milwaukee Brewers (1974–1993)
Career highlights and awards
3× All-Star selection (1980, 1982, 1983) Gold Glove Award winner (1982) 3× Silver Slugger Award winner (1980, 1982, 1989) 2× AL MVP (1982, 1989) Milwaukee Brewers #19 retired
[[{{{hoflink}}}|Member of the {{{hoftype}}}]]
[[{{{hoflink}}}|Baseball Hall of Fame]]
Induction	1999
Vote	77.5% (first ballot)

Robin R. Yount (/ˈjɒnt/; nicknamed,"The Kid", and "Rockin' Robin", born September 16, 1955) is an American former Major League Baseball shortstop and center fielder. He spent his entire 20-year baseball career with the Milwaukee Brewers (1974–1993). In 1999, Yount was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Early years

Yount was born in Danville, Illinois. During his youth, his family moved to southern California, where he attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills.

Baseball career

Yount was the third pick overall in the June 1973 Major League Baseball Draft, one slot ahead of fellow Hall of Famer and 3,000 Hit Club member Dave Winfield. Yount made his major league debut the following April, at eighteen years old. After going hitless in his first four games, Yount hit a game-winning home run in his sixth. On September 14, 1975 (two days before his 20th birthday), Yount broke Mel Ott's 47-year-old record for most games played in the major leagues before turning 20. Yount courted controversy in the winter of 1978. He threatened to retire from the game and take up professional golf rather than be underpaid by the Brewers. His demands were met during spring training in 1978, and he played the full season; ultimately, Yount remained a Brewer for the rest of his 20-year career. Yount developed into an excellent hitter, eventually posting a career .285 batting average with 251 home runs, 1632 runs scored and 1406 runs batted in. His 11,008 career at-bats is the seventh-most in Major League Baseball history, and he ranks 17th on the all-time hit list. He was an early proponent of weight training – then uncommon in baseball – and by 1980 Yount's power hitting had improved, particularly for a shortstop. Yount was an All-Star in 1980, 1982, and 1983. No other Brewer was voted a starter in consecutive years until Ryan Braun in 2008-11. His three All-Star appearances are tied with Ferguson Jenkins for the fewest of any Hall of Famer from the post-All-Star Game era, and he won a second MVP Award in 1989 without making the All-Star Team.

Yount collected more hits in the decade of the 1980s than any other player (1731), leading the American League with 210 hits in 1982. The 1982 AL East race was tied on the final day of the season, with the race coming down to a winner-take-all game between the Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles. With the title on the line, Yount hit home runs in each of his first two at-bats against Orioles starter Jim Palmer. Yount finished with a four-hit game, as the Brewers won 10-2. In addition to his only 200-hit season, he registered career highs with 29 home runs, 114 RBI, and a .331 batting average (.001 behind the league leader, Willie Wilson). Yount demonstrated his remarkable power, especially unusual in a shortstop, with a .578 slugging percentage and .957 OPS on his way to gaining 367 total bases - leading the major leagues in all three categories. His slugging percentage was the second highest ever by a shortstop, and his 129 runs set the record for that position. That year, Yount also won his only Gold Glove Award and his first Most Valuable Player Award. His performance garnered 27 of 28 possible first place votes in the 1982 MVP balloting. The year ended with the Brewers making their only World Series appearance. Although Yount became the only player to collect four hits in two World Series games, Milwaukee lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

In 1985, a shoulder problem forced Yount to move to the outfield. After splitting time between center field and left field, Yount became the Brewers' regular center fielder in 1986. He played more than 1,200 games in the outfield in his career, with a .990 fielding percentage. He made a game-ending, diving catch to preserve a no-hitter by Juan Nieves early in the 1987 season.

Yount narrowly won a second MVP Award in 1989, making him only the third player to win MVPs at two positions, joining Hank Greenberg and Stan Musial (Alex Rodriguez would later join this group). Yount was the first AL player to win multiple MVP's in over twenty-five years, since the Yankees' Roger Maris (1960 & 1961) and Mickey Mantle (1956, 1957, and 1962).

On Sept. 9, 1992, Yount collected his 3,000th career hit, becoming the 17th player to reach the mark. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999, his first year of eligibility. That same year, he was included in the balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, finishing fifth among shortstops.

Yount holds Brewers career records for games, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, total bases, walks and strikeouts. He was the last active major leaguer to have been a teammate of Hank Aaron (1975–1976).

His brother Larry had one of the oddest, and shortest, careers in major league history. While taking his warmup tosses for his debut as a Houston Astros reliever in 1971, he experienced elbow pain. He never threw an official pitch in that game, or any other.

Post-playing career

Robin Yount's number 19 was retired by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1994.

Yount in 2008.

Yount served as first base coach and bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2002 to 2004. He resigned after the dismissal of Arizona manager Bob Brenly. He, Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn and Bob Uecker threw out the ceremonial first pitches at the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Miller Park.

In 2005, Brewers manager Ned Yost convinced Dale Sveum, a teammate of Yount's, to become Milwaukee's new third base coach. Yount followed suit a few weeks later, accepting a post as the Brewers' bench coach. In November 2006, Yount announced he would not return to the team as bench coach for the 2007 season. However, on September 15, 2008 Sveum, by now the team's manager, chose Yount as his bench coach.

Since retiring from baseball, Yount has increased his participation in two of his other passions, professional motorcycle and auto racing. In June 2008, Yount announced the creation of a new lemonade drink, Robinade. A portion of the proceeds of the sales goes to charity.

Yount was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.

Yount was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. He received the lowest voting support in history as an individual who was elected on the first ballot due to the fact that Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Carlton Fisk, elected in their 1st year of eligibility, along with future Hall of Fame inductees Gary Carter, Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven and Tony Perez, shared the same ballot.

See also

• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• List of Major League Baseball doubles records
• DHL Hometown Heroes
• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions
• 3000 hit club
• Hitting for the cycle

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Robin Yount at the Baseball Hall of Fame