Yount honored 50 years after debut MLB season

MILWAUKEE -- The standing ovation at American Family Field on Sunday lasted 35 seconds as Robin Yount made his way out of the Brewers’ dugout. After Yount walked toward the pitcher's mound and delivered the ceremonial first pitch, the Milwaukee crowd continued to recognize one of the greatest players in franchise history.

“I don’t take it for granted,” Yount said during a media session on Sunday. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have been drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. Not knowing it at the time, but certainly not too far into my career, [I] realized that this was the place for me.”

The Brewers celebrated Yount on Sunday in honor of the 50-year anniversary of his first season in the Major Leagues. Yount made his MLB debut on April 5, 1974, at just 18 years and 201 days old. He was the youngest player in Brewers history at the time of his debut.

Yount vividly remembers when he got the news that he made Milwaukee’s Opening Day roster. Near the end of Spring Training in 1974, Yount was greeted by manager Del Crandall as he stepped onto the team bus.

“My heart dropped because the manager is always the last guy on the bus,” Yount said.

Initially, Yount thought he was running late. Thoughts then began racing through his head, as he wondered -- considering his age -- if Crandall was about to inform him that the Brewers were sending him to the lower Minor Leagues.

Yount got better news: Crandall named him the Brewers’ Opening Day shortstop. The skipper delivered the same news to Bud Selig, then Milwaukee’s owner, when Selig made a trip to camp.

“[Crandall] said, ‘Well, in my opinion, it’s the right thing to do,’” Selig recalled. “‘It may be a little rough in the first year, but it’s going to be great for many years after.’”

And so started Yount’s decorated Hall of Fame career, in which he played 20 seasons, all with the Brewers. Yount won a pair of AL MVP Awards (1982, ‘89) and led Milwaukee to an AL pennant (‘82). He was named an All-Star three times (‘80, ‘82 and ‘83) and won a Gold Glove Award (‘82).

Yount won his Gold Glove Award as a shortstop, before a right shoulder injury forced him to move to the outfield in 1985. The honor demonstrated the hard work he put in following his debut as a teenager.

Yount recalled Crandall’s message ahead of his rookie season: Any offense he provided would be a bonus to him being steady in the field.

“My heart was now really pounding [because of] the lack of confidence I had in my defense," Yount said. "I always knew I could hit. I’m going, ‘Man, you just put me in a rough seat.’ Because they expect the defense, and I wasn't sure I could play Major League defense. … But I always knew I could hit.”

Yount proved he could do both.

Those joining Yount for Sunday’s celebration included former teammate Greg Vaughn and Selig, who was later MLB Commissioner from 1998-2015. Selig shared his appreciation for his and the franchise’s relationship with Yount and Yount spending his entire career with Milwaukee.

“It meant a great deal,” Selig said. “This has really been, I’m proud to say, a very unusual and marvelous relationship. I think our fans understood that right from the beginning. You talk about stability and permanence. This meant a great deal, [our] personal relationship, professional relationship. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me, but [also] to our fans.”

At one point during Sunday’s media session, Yount quipped that he was a Brewer forever “with the exception of about a two-month period.” He said he and Selig were “not seeing eye to eye” in 1989 about the team’s direction. There was talk of Yount potentially leaving for the Angels.

Ultimately, Selig and Yount met at a restaurant in Phoenix, Selig recalled, and they reached a new contract.

“To this day, I realize how important that was,” Selig said.

That was evident with the support Yount received from the Milwaukee community at that time. He grew emotional recalling letters he received from grade school students imploring him to stay with the Brewers.

“I’ve got stacks of this stuff,” Yount said. “I felt the overwhelming support of the community not to leave. After that? There’s no way I could leave. I wasn’t leaving.”

He’s still here.