Editor's note: This is Part one of a ten part series revealing the baseball players and figures the BCB community has nominated for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame. A new nominee will be announced each day for ten days. Today we start with the leading votegetter, Robin Yount. - KL
Robin Yount was born on September 16th 1955 in Danville Illinois. In 1973 Yount would be drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers out of William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills California. The same high school also produced MLB players Rick Auerbach, Gabe Kapler, Pete LaCock, Larry Dierker, Kelly Paris and Robin's older brother, pitcher Larry Yount (Taft HS also produced WKRP actress Jan Smithers, and rapper Ice Cube). Interestingly, Rick Auerbach went on to be the last Brewer player to wear the #19 on his uniform before Yount wore it for the next 20 seasons, and into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
After playing only 64 games for the Newark Pilots in 1973, Yount made the leap to the majors for good in 1974 as an 18 year old. By the time the 1975 season ended, Yount broke some of Mel Ott's MLB records for a teenager including, games played, plate appearances, doubles, and runs.
Robin Yount would quickly develop into one MLB's best hitting and most valuable shortstops. In 1980 Yount would be selected to his first All-Star game. He was selected by the fans in 1982 and 1983, the only Brewer to do so until Ryan Braun in 2009. In 1982 Robin Yount won his first MVP award, leading the American League in hits, total bases slugging and OPS, while playing solid defense and winning the Gold Glove at shortstop as well.
In 1982 Yount led the Brewers to their second post-season appearance and their only World Series. Yount led the Brewers in almost every offensive category in the series (with the exception of home runs), batting .414 and scoring 6 runs. Yount would become the only player to collect 4 hits in a game twice in a World Series, doing so in games 1 and 5.
1984 would be Yount's last season at SS, as he would soon after suffer a shoulder injury that limited his ability to throw in the infield. In 1985 when Yount returned from his injury he moved to CF where he played for the last 9 years of his career. In 1989, Yount would win his second American League MVP award, becoming one of the few players to earn the distinction at two different positions.
In 1992 Yount became the 17th MLB player to collect 3000 hits, singling off of Jose Mesa. Yount retired after the 1993 season with 3142 hits for his career. In 1999 Yount was elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility with 77% of the vote, and a very respectable career line of .285/.340/.442./.772.
Robin Yount played 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers, his only major league team Only 4 MLB players amassed more than 2856 games playing for only one team (Yaz, Musial, Ripken, Brooks Robinson). Only 4 players in the history of MLB collected more hits playing for only one team (Yaz, Musial, Ripken, Brett). Playing exactly 1000 more games as a Brewer than second most tenured Brewer, (Paul Molitor) Robin Yount holds Brewers career records for games, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, total bases and walks.