Edgar Frederick Yost III (; born August 19, 1954) is a former
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
and
manager of the
Milwaukee Brewers and
Kansas City Royals. He played for the Brewers,
Texas Rangers, and
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
.
Early life
Yost was born on
California's North Coast in
Eureka
Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
. Yost attended and played baseball at
Dublin High School in
Dublin, California. He had significant difficulty hitting prior to his junior and senior years, yet improved after building physical strength by working as a pot-scrubber at a
Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. After high school, Yost attended
Chabot Junior College in
Hayward, California, where he
walked on to Chabot's baseball team after receiving no offers to play for other schools.
Playing career
Yost was selected twice in the
1974 MLB Draft, first by the
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
in the second round (33rd overall) in January, but he signed his first professional contract with the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
which picked him in the first round (7th overall) of the June secondary phase. He went to the Brewers in the
Rule 5 draft on December 5, 1977.
Yost, as a player, was used primarily as a backup catcher for the Brewers from 1980 to 1983 (which included the
1982 World Series), and then spent a year with the
Texas Rangers (1984; he played a career-high 80 games with the
Rangers, hitting .182) and played 5 games for the
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
(1985) before retiring.
He never had more than 242
at bats in a season. He ended his career with a .212
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
, and .237
on-base percentage, in 605 at bats. He had a .982
fielding percentage (the league average was .987).
Yost briefly had a second career as a
taxidermist
Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proc ...
in
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...
, in between his playing days and coaching days.
Coaching career
After a brief stint managing in the minors, Yost joined the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
organization. He was the Braves' bullpen coach from 1991 to 1998 and earned a ring as a part of the
1995 World Series
The 1995 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1995 season. The 91st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Atlanta Braves and the Ameri ...
championship team that defeated the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
in six games. He also was part of the 1991, 1992, 1996, and 1999 National pennant winning teams that lost each of those series to the
Minnesota Twins (1991), the
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
(1992), and the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
(1996, 1999) respectively. In 1999 Yost became the Braves' third base coach, a position he maintained until the end of the 2002 season.
Managing career
Milwaukee Brewers
On October 29, 2002, Yost was named the Brewers manager, succeeding
Jerry Royster.
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
manager
Tony La Russa
Anthony La Russa Jr. (; born October 4, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. His MLB career has spanned from 1963 to 2022, in several roles. He is the former manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland At ...
named Yost to be part of his coaching staff for the
2005 MLB All-Star Game
The 2005 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 76th playing of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game wa ...
.
Yost's tenure oversaw a revitalization of the Brewers franchise, leading them from losing records to championship contender. However, his teams were plagued by inconsistency, most notably squandering a large lead in the division during the 2007 season and a significant advantage in the wild card race in
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. Yost finished seventh in voting for
Manager of the Year in 2007. While he wore No. 5 on his jersey as a player with the Brewers, as a manager, he wore No. 3 on his jersey as a tribute to his close friend, deceased
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
racer and baseball fan
Dale Earnhardt.
Yost's managing came under fire late in 2007. During the season, the Brewers held an game division lead over the Cubs by June 23 but failed to hold on to the advantage, finishing two games behind the Cubs. Yost's bullpen management, lineup strategies, and bench management were blamed. He also was thrown out of three games in the last week of the season. However, general Manager
Doug Melvin
Robert Douglas Melvin (born August 8, 1952) is a Canadian front-office executive in Major League Baseball (MLB) who previously served as the general manager of the Texas Rangers (1995–2001) and Milwaukee Brewers (2002–2015). He is currently a ...
announced Yost's return for the 2008 season.
He was fired as manager on September 15, 2008, with 12 games remaining in the regular season. The Brewers were still in the playoff race, but had lost 11 of their last 14 games. Yost finished his Brewers career with a 457–502 record.
Third-base coach
Dale Sveum was named his interim replacement and served until the end of the season, leading the Brewers to clinch the wild card spot on the last day of the season for their first trip to the postseason since 1982 when they made it to the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
. They were eliminated by the
Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...
, the eventual World Series champions,
in the 2008 National League Division Series, 3 games to 1.
Following the
2009 season, Yost was a candidate to be the next manager of the
Houston Astros, however the position was filled by
Brad Mills.
Kansas City Royals
On May 13, 2010, Yost was named manager of the
Kansas City Royals, replacing
Trey Hillman
Thomas Brad "Trey" Hillman (born January 4, 1963) is an American professional baseball coach. He has also served as the manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan's Pacific League, the Kansas City Royals in the American League and the SK ...
. Prior to the 2012 season, the Royals signed Yost to a contract extension through the 2013 season. In the 2013 season, Yost posted an 86–76 record with the Royals,
their first winning season since 2003.
In
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, Yost led the Royals to their first playoff berth since 1985, finishing 89–73. Yost's Royals swept the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
in four games in the
American League Championship Series to give the team its first American League pennant in 29 years. In doing so, the team became the first team in MLB history to win their first eight consecutive playoff games. The Royals were then defeated four games to three in the
2014 World Series by the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
. Yost finished third in the voting for 2014 Manager of the Year and signed a one-year contract extension in the offseason to stay with the club through 2016.
At the start of the 2015 season, Yost led the team to a 7–0 start marking the best start to a season in team history since 2003 (which saw the Royals win their first nine games). In his fifth full season as manager, Yost became the longest-tenured manager in Royals history.
He later also became the winningest manager in Royals club history after a 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on June 18, 2015. On the final day of the 2015 regular season, Yost's Royals clinched the best record in the American League at 95-67, giving Kansas City home field advantage throughout the playoffs, including the World Series by virtue of the AL's victory in the
All-Star Game
An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...
. The Royals defeated the
Houston Astros,
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
and ultimately the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
to bring Kansas City its first
World Series championship since
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
, and Yost his first title as a manager.
On August 18, 2015, MLB gave Yost a warning about using an Apple Watch he received from the MLB because of MLB's policy of no internet enabled devices in the dugout during gametime. Yost received the watch as a present from MLB for winning the 2014 AL pennant. Yost later told a local radio station that MLB had rescinded the warning after learning that the networking features of the Apple Watch were only available with an active iPhone connection.
Yost has often been criticized for his
idiosyncratic
An idiosyncrasy is an unusual feature of a person (though there are also other uses, see below). It can also mean an odd habit. The term is often used to express eccentricity or peculiarity. A synonym may be "quirk".
Etymology
The term "idiosyncr ...
decision-making and rejection of
Sabermetrics
Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific ques ...
, such as with the arrangement of his batting order and bullpen management, but he also has defended his methods as ones needed to give the team confidence in their ability; Yost was once quoted as saying "I’ve been known as a dope my whole life. And I took a team to the World Series that hadn’t been to the playoffs in 29 years. And now everyone knows them. And I’m still a big dope. But it doesn’t matter. What does it matter?’’
On February 18, 2016, the Royals announced that Yost had signed an extension with the team, keeping him as manager through the 2018 season.
On September 17, 2016, Yost earned the 1,000th victory of his managerial career, in the Royals' 3–2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. In 2016, he was successful on a higher percentage of replay challenges than any other MLB manager with ten or more challenges, at 67.6%.
In 2018 he was successful on a higher percentage of replay challenges than any other MLB manager with 10 or more challenges, at 75.6%.
On September 23, 2019, Yost announced that he would retire at the end of the 2019 season. He finished his Royals career with 687 wins and 736 losses, both being franchise records for a manager in Royals history.
Managerial record
Personal life
Yost and his wife, Deborah, have four children and live in rural Georgia during the off-season. One of his sons, Ned Yost IV, serves as a coach for the
Nashville Sounds, Class AAA minor league affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. Prior to becoming a coach in 2009, the younger Yost played first base for the Class-A Brevard County Manatees in 2007, his third season in the minors, hitting .248 with a .283 slugging percentage.
On November 4, 2017, Yost was in a
tree stand
Tree stands or deer stands are open or enclosed platforms used by hunters. The platforms are secured to trees in order to elevate the hunter and give them a better vantage point. A tripod stand is a similar device, but because it is freestanding ...
near his home in Georgia when he fell twenty feet. He sustained a
broken pelvis, and his surgeon was concerned that Yost might die from blood loss. Yost later said he was certain he would have died if he did not have his
cell phone at the time of the fall. He later appeared in a television commercial for
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...
, crediting its wireless service with saving his life.
Ned Yost was a close friend with NASCAR driver
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. During the
1994 MLB Strike
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
, Yost went to work with Earnhardt’s crew for the rest of the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...
as a “hydration specialist”. Earnhardt went on to win his record tying 7th NASCAR Championship that year and Yost was present when it happened. Yost credits Earnhardt on his abilities to win as a manager and after his death, Yost switched to number 3 as his number with the Brewers and Royals.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball managers by wins
This article contains a list of all Major League Baseball managers with at least 1,000 career regular season wins and a list of managers who have regular season win percentages of at least .540 in at least 450 games (approximately three full seaso ...
References
External links
, o
The Baseball Gauge o
o
Venezuelan Winter League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yost, Ned
1954 births
Living people
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Atlanta Braves coaches
Baseball coaches from California
Baseball players from California
Batavia Trojans players
Chabot Gladiators baseball players
Greenville Braves players
Indianapolis Indians players
Jackson Mets players
Kansas City Royals managers
Major League Baseball bullpen coaches
Major League Baseball catchers
Major League Baseball third base coaches
Milwaukee Brewers managers
Milwaukee Brewers players
Montreal Expos players
Navegantes del Magallanes players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
People from Dublin, California
Richmond Braves players
Spokane Indians players
Sportspeople from Eureka, California
Texas Rangers players
Tiburones de La Guaira players
Tidewater Tides players
Vancouver Canadians players
Wausau Mets players
World Series-winning managers