After 2,731 Games, Yount Still Going Strong

Robin Yount’s face began to show the telltale signs of a man approaching middle age some time ago.

His step might be slower now, and his bat surely doesn’t pack the sock it once did. But the fires within Yount still burn with the same intensity.

The boundless energy and the simple joy of playing baseball keep driving Yount to the ballpark day after day.

On Tuesday, Yount celebrated his 20th opening day as a Milwaukee Brewer. On Wednesday, he played his 2,731th major league game since breaking in as an 18-year-old standout with one year of minor league experience.

The year was 1974 and Richard Nixon was in the White House. Think about that.

Slowly but surely Yount is working his way up the all-time lists in nearly every offensive category. If he’s aware that he was the 17th player in history to top the 3,000-hit barrier, a feat he accomplished last September, he doesn’t let on.

That’s the sort of trivia he’d rather let others worry about. It’s not why he plays the game. Attention has never been a high priority, either.

Recall that in 1982, in the midst of his finest season, he wore a pained expression whenever the fans at County Stadium would break into their chant of “MVP, MVP, MVP.” Being named the American League’s MVP after hitting a career-best .331 was reward enough.

Even now he grimaces and says, “At that point, we were in the middle of the pennant race. Really, I didn’t think the focus should be on just one guy when we were in that situation.”

That’s Yount in a nutshell, according to Angel Manager Buck Rodgers, who managed Yount in Milwaukee from 1980-82.

“He’s a shy guy,” Rodgers said. “He always felt very fortunate to be in the place he was in, to have a chance to play in the big leagues.”

The truth is that the Brewers are the lucky ones.

Over the years, he has come to define the Milwaukee Brewers in much the same way Ruth, Maris and Mantle define the Yankees. After all, Yount has worn a Brewer uniform for 20 of the 24 seasons the club has been in Milwaukee. He has never played for another team, and after Wednesday’s 3-2 Brewer victory at Anaheim Stadium, only four others can say they played more games with the same club.

Brewer history? Yount, 37, has played a part in almost all of it.

“It’s gone by extremely fast,” Yount said of his years in Milwaukee. “I guess playing baseball is a way of life. I don’t know anything else.”

The Brewers were three years removed from Seattle, where they were known as the Pilots, when they signed Yount out of Woodland Hills Taft High School. He was only 17 at the time, and there was no way he could have guessed, or hoped, he would still be playing after all these years.

“I don’t think you can predict those sorts of things,” said Yount, who is still looking for his first hit in 1993. “You have to be so lucky. You have to avoid major injuries. There are so many variables.”

Then he looked around the clubhouse and added, “There’s nothing really different between me and the (young) guys who are here now. If I can do it, why can’t anybody else do it, too?”

What is it then that has elevated Yount above so many others? Why does he have 3,025 hits, 243 home runs, 1,355 runs batted in and a .287 career batting average?

Rodgers chalks it up to Yount’s relentless passion to play.

“We had to keep him down more than get him up,” Rodgers said. “He was always an enthusiastic kid.”

Little has changed, except that Yount is no longer a kid. He said he rarely looks back, though he admits there is much to remember.

“I live life more for today than yesterday,” he said. “What keeps me going is that I enjoy what I’m doing. If I didn’t enjoy the competition, I wouldn’t play anymore. This is what I do best.”