Robin Yount

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Robin Yount bigraphy, stories - American baseball player/coach

Robin Yount : biography

16 September 1955 –

Robin R. Yount ( 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.

Post-playing career

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.

Yount also threw out the first ball for Game 2 of the 2011 NLDS, with the throw being caught by Sveum, who was at the time the Brewers hitting coach. In keeping with the "Beast Mode" celebration that the Brewers had made during the season, Yount did his own "Beast Mode" after throwing the ball.

In 2012, when Dale Sveum was named the Chicago Cubs new manager, rumors quickly spread that Sveum would ask Yount to coach with him, even though the Brewers and Cubs had become bitter rivals. Sveum very quickly confirmed that he was not even considering such a move.

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 all-natural 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 and George Brett, elected in their 1st year of eligibility, along with future Hall of Fame inductees Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven, Bruce Sutter and Tony Perez, shared the same ballot.

In 2012, Yount became a minority owner of the Lakeshore Chinooks of the Northwoods Baseball League. The Chinooks play at Kapco Park at Concordia University Wisconsin where the right field fence is 319 feet in his honor.

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. Yount is currently the last 18-year old to hit a home run in the Major Leagues (Ken Griffey Jr. and Bryce Harper are the two most current teenagers to have hit Major League home runs, but as 19-year olds). 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.Wagner, Andrew (July 5, 2009). OnMilwaukee.com, accessed July 5, 2009 His three All-Star appearances are tied with Ferguson Jenkins for the second-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.