“The Kid” Returns to Brew Town

By Rhonda Reigstad

 

Milwaukee Brewers fans—mark Friday, November 4, 2005, down on your calendar. A move that most of us have been waiting for finally happened today. Robin “The Kid” Yount is returning to the team after 11 years.

 In a press conference earlier today, the Brewers named Yount their new bench coach after a long time of prodding from current manager Ned Yost, a former teammate of his from their playing days in the early 1980s. They have been trying to get him back to the team since he retired after spending his entire 20-year career with them.

 Yount, along with Paul “Molly” Molitor and Jim “Gumby” Gantner are arguably the most popular Brewers of all time. They were the nucleus for so many years. The mere mention of the Brewers and people would automatically associate these three with the team. They combined for more hits by a trio than any other all time. Yount and Molitor are both a part of the 3,000 hit club, both first ballot Hall of Famers and have their numbers retired by the Brewers.

Yount ranks first in team history in games played, home runs, runs batted in, at-bats, hits, runs scored, doubles and triples. He was a two-time Most Valuable Player in two different positions (shortstop and outfield) in the 1980s. One of the more memorable plays that Yount was involved in was in the outfield. It was 1987 and pitcher Juan Nieves was throwing a no-hitter. The batter hit a floater to center field, Yount ran up and dived for the ball and preserved the no-hitter for the last out of the game.

Upon retiring, the Brewers wanted to keep him on as a coach but he decided to move back to Arizona to be close to his family. Yount spent a few years with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a base and bench coach and resigned when former manager Bob Brenly was relieved of his duties in July 2004. The position with the Brewers opened up when they relieved now former bench coach Rich Dauer of his duties at the end of the season.

This is another move by owner Mark Attanaiso and general manager Doug Melvin that is showing a lot of people how dedicated they are to getting a winner in Milwaukee. There’s not a whole lot of moneyball here with buying big name players to win a championship in under three years. They signed players who have already contributed to the Brewers and want to be here. Manager Ned Yost knows what it takes to get to a championship level, as he was a part of the only Brewers team to make it to a World Series in 1982, losing in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.

 Yount being on the bench will be invaluable to the team. He brings a wealth of experience as a player and coach. He’s a “lunch pail” type of guy. Not a whole lot of glam, just a hard worker and went out every day and did what he needed to do to get the job done without a lot of talking. A true player’s coach.

Paul Molitor’s name has been thrown around for some time to come back to the Brewers but nothing has happened as of yet. He has spent time with the Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners as a hitting coach. One has to wonder if “Molly” will rethink coming back.

Jim “Gumby” Gantner stays close to the team as he lives in the Milwaukee area. “Stormin’” Gorman Thomas has a food stand named after him at Miller Park and frequents on a regular basis. This move keeps showing long time Brewers fans that there is someone in Brew Town who cares about the status of the team and bringing a winner back to a city who hasn’t seen one in a long time.

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