| |
 This Robin is a Rare Bird Milwaukee's Robin Yount is the best shortstop in baseball because he combines slick fielding with powerful hitting
Posted: Wednesday July 21, 1999 07:33 PM
By Robert W. Creamer
Yount, who turned 27 last week, has been in or close to the league lead in slugging percentage most of the season, and in total bases, too. These are power categories, the statistical realm of the big hitter, the musclemen -- usually outfielders and first baseman, sometime third basemen and catchers, occasionally a second baseman, almost never a shortstop. Ernie Banks led in both categories once, before he was switched from shortstop to first base ... Rogers Hornsby did it once early in his career, before he was switched from short to second. Honus Wagner , who towers like Mount Everest over all other shortstops, did it several times back in the first decade of the century. Vern Stephens and the above three Hall of Famers are the only shortstops to finish as high as second in both slugging percentage and total bases in the same year. At the end of last week, Yount was second in the league in batting (.333), first in base hits, first in doubles, second in runs scored and third in triples; he had 24 homers and 101 RBIs. He also had 80 extra base hits ... Carl Yastrzemski has never hit 80 in one season. Ty Cobb never did either. Neither did Wagner or Roberto Clemente . Nor Pete Rose . Reggie Jackson has done it once. But this is the second season of more than 80 for Yount, who had 82 in 1980. Shortstops just aren't expected to hit like that, particularly slick-fielding shortstops, and Yount is among the slickest. Rick Burleson of the California Angles and Alan Trammell of the Detroit Tigers are generally considered the two finest fielding shortstops in the American League, but Yount is very close to them. Some observers says he's better. He has excellent range, good hands, a powerful arm and the awareness of situation that moves superior fielders to moments of inspiration. In a game in New York recently he ran, his back to the infield, far into left centerfield after a twisting pop fly. He seemed unlikely to get to the ball before it dropped, but he stabbed at it at the last moment and grabbed it somewhere near his right elbow. The catch was accomplishment enough, but then Yount, turning with the impetus of his effort, threw back to second and doubled off a surprised base runner. Earlier in that series he had been shaded toward second base with a man on first and Jerry Mumphrey , a fast switch-hitter batting left, at the plate. Mumphrey hit the ball sharply toward the whole between third and short. Yount, sprinting to his right, speared the ball backhanded on the dead run and somehow managed to fire it back to second base in time for the force-out -- and second baseman Ed Romero still had time to really the ball on to first to nip Mumphrey. ... Yount's grace in the field is evident, but at bat he doesn't look like a power hitter. He's tall and lithe -- 6 feet and 170 pounds -- and he doesn't bludgeon the ball. But he has surprisingly muscular arms for his lean build, and he has a quick bat -- he puts wood on the ball. He tends to boom hits to right center and left center, which helps explain the number of doubles and triples he gets. "He hits from foul line to foul line, the way Steve Garvey does," Don Sutton says. "He'll spray one down the rightfield line, he'll gap one to right center, then he'll jerk one to left." He's fast, too, though he doesn't steal many bases. When he's running all out, rounding the bases en route to a triple, his speed is breathtakingly evident. In sum, he's a marvelously talented athlete who does everything well on the ball field and who elicits glowing praise from other baseball men. ... Frank Howard is extravagant in praise of Yount. "He's as complete a ballplayer as there is in the game," Howard says. "Plus, he's a super person. He has the respect of all his teammates and everybody in baseball. There aren't many Jack Armstrong s left but in my mind Robin Yount is a Jack Armstrong of the 1980s, an all-American boy." ... To outsiders these aspects of Yount's personality aren't readily apparent. He's polite and pleasant even cordial to strangers, but he maintains a reserve. He's gracious and patient with the determined lady in Milwaukee who is head of the Robin Yount Fan Club, but a couple of years back he did decide he was too old to attend any more of the club's birthday parties for him. Some players savor publicity and use it to satisfy egotistical needs; others are afraid of it and retreat into silence. Yount once told a reporter, "Publicity doesn't make that much difference to me. I don't especially like it, but I understand there is a need for it in baseball." He was 18 years old then, in his second month as a major leaguer, and his attitude hasn't changed. ... Friends say Yount would now be a scratch golfer if he played regularly. But baseball took precedence long ago. He was named the outstanding high school baseball player in Los Angeles in his senior year and was picked in he first round of the 1973 draft by the Brewers. He was the third pick overall, behind pitcher David Clyde (by the Rangers) and catcher John Stearns (by the Phillies). "We had quite a go of it before he signed," says Jim Baumer , the director of scouting who handled the negotiations for the Brewers. "They wanted more money than we would give." Less than a year later, when Yount was Milwaukee's starting shortstop, he said to Baumer, "See? I told you I should have been given more money." He played 64 games in the Class A New York-Pennsylvania League in the summer of '73, batting a solid .285, and fielded well but erratically. Still, he was impressive, and Milwaukee, beginning its sixth season as an expansion club, took him to spring training in 1974. The Brewers had finished last or next to last each season and had used a succession of shortstop, none of whom was very impressive. Del Crandall , then the Milwaukee manager, liked what he saw of Yount's fielding in camp and felt certain he'd hit at least as well as the previous shortstop, Tim Johnson, who batted .213 in '73. According to Brewer lore, Crandall said to the front office, "Is there any reason why an 18-year old kid can't play shortstop in the big leagues?" The front office said, "Why not?'" Yount was in the lineup on Opening Day and has been ever since. Except, of course, during the Great Golf Strike. That began in March 1978, during spring training at Sun City, Ariz., and continued into May. Yount had played well his first four seasons, batting better than .250 each year and a strong .288 during 1977. His fielding was still a little shaky, but it was improving and was sometimes astonishingly good. Yet that spring training Yount was restless and unhappy. He was hitting poorly and his ankles hurt. He hadn't yet signed his new contract, and he began talking of not signing at all, of giving up baseball. There were even reports that he wanted to quit to become a professional golfer. Yount denies he ever said this, at least not seriously. Rumor had it that some wealthy men in Palm Springs were going to underwrite him on the pro tour. The stories spread, and conversation among the Brewers centered around the question,"Do you think Robin's going to sing?" Club President Bud Selig flew in from Milwaukee and spoke to Yount. Harry Dalton , the newly appointed general manager, talked to Yount. George Bamberger , in his first year as manager (Bamberger managed the team in 1978, '79 and part of '80), said things would work out. Everyone was so sure Yount would sign that a bright new rookie shortstop named Paul Molitor was reassigned to the minors. Then Yount suddenly left camp. Molitor's reassignment was hastily rescinded, and he opened the season at shortstop. Yount flew to Milwaukee just before the season began, hung around a few days, had dinner with Selig and then abruptly flew to Arizona, where he had been staying with his brother. Throughout this period there was an atmosphere of friendliness on both sides. Yount and the Brewers both insisted that money and contract terms weren't the problem, and club officials said they were waiting only for Yount to decide what he wanted to do. Then early in May he rejoined the Brewers, worked out and was reinstated at shortstop. Molitor was shifted to second and was outstanding. Milwaukee had a splendid season, moving up from the depths to third place, and has been a factor in the American League ever since. Issue date: Sept. 27,
1982
| |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
