Best All-Time Shortstops Robin Yount
"“You know, when I was a young boy I used to play baseball in my back yard or in the street with my brothers or the neighborhood kids. We used broken bats and plastic golf balls and played for hours and hours.”—Robin Yount"
Robin Yount seems like the cool dad in the neighborhood who lets his kids ride their dirt bikes over jumps in the backyard on hot summer days while he’s manning the barbecue.
In the winter, they ski or snowboard, and in the summer they go to the lake with their boat and jet skis. He’s the best athlete of all the dads. Just playing catch with him hurts your hand. Every kid in the neighborhood thinks he’s the coolest.
I don’t know that Robin Yount is that guy, but he seems like that guy. He seems like he would instantly be good at any sport he ever tried. If the neighborhood kids are playing football, he’ll come out and be the quarterback for both teams.
If they’re playing basketball, he’s draining three-pointers with ease. When one of his kid’s friends comes over with a new bike, he hops on it and does a wheelie all the way down the street.
Yount was drafted out of Taft High School by the Milwaukee Brewers in the first round of the 1973 MLB draft. He was the third overall pick because the Texas Rangers took high school phenom David Clyde with the first overall pick and the Philadelphia Phillies took John Stearns with the second pick.
Right after Yount, the San Diego Padres drafted Dave Winfield, who was also drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in football and the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) and Utah Stars (ABA) in basketball.
Clyde was immediately rushed to the big leagues and won his first major league start but washed out of baseball with arm injuries. Dave Winfield also went straight to the big leagues. It was unusual for a position player to go straight from college to the major leagues, but Winfield handled it just fine.
Yount didn’t jump straight from high school to the big leagues, but his journey to Milwaukee was quick. He played just 64 games in Low-A ball in 1973. In 1974, at the tender age of 18, he was playing shortstop for the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s one of only five players since 1901 to have 300 or more plate appearances by the age of 18.
It took a few years before Yount became an above average player. His first good season was in 1977 when he was worth 2.4 WAR. Then came the controversial 1978 season. Yount wasn’t happy with his salary and was disillusioned with the sport. At the time, he said, “I can’t say I’ve enjoyed baseball that much. It’s not as much fun as it should be.”
There were rumors that Yount wanted to quit baseball and become a professional golfer. He walked out of spring training. The Brewers put him on the disabled list because of a sore foot, and Paul Molitor was moved to shortstop.
Yount missed all of April before deciding to return to the team. He played his first game that year on May 6 and went on to have his best season yet, hitting .293/.323/.428. Two years later, Young had his first all-star season. He led the AL in doubles, with 49, and launched 23 home runs and had 20 steals.
That was just a precursor to his 1982 season when he led the AL in hits, doubles, slugging percentage and total bases. He was an all-star, a Gold Glove winner, a Silver Slugger, and won the AL MVP Award. He followed that up with another all-star season in 1983.
In 1985, Yount suffered a shoulder injury that would necessitate a move away from shortstop to the outfield. He played left field and center field that season, then moved to center field for the rest of his career.
In 1989, he won another MVP Award and joined Hank Greenberg and Stan Musial as the only players to win MVPs at two positions. Later, Alex Rodriguez would do the same.
After 20 years in the major leagues, all with the Milwaukee Brewers, Yount retired following the 1993 season. He finished with 3142 career hits, and 1632 runs scored and was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Fittingly, he entered the Hall with one of his closest friends, George Brett, along with Nolan Ryan.