Twenty years ago, Yount made history with 3,000th hit

Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of Hall of Famer Robin Yount's 3,000th hit, an opposite-field single off Indians reliever Jose Mesa at Milwaukee County Stadium on Sept. 9, 1992. In an interview with MLB.com last year, just before Yankees captain Derek Jeter joined the club, Yount recalled the uncomfortable run-up to his milestone.

"It almost feels like you're out there alone. It's kind of a weird feeling," he said. "At least it was for me. I remember that we were in a pennant race the year I got mine and it was late in the year. I felt very uncomfortable because it seemed like the focus was on me, and I felt that it should have been on the team because we had a legitimate chance to win that division that year.

"I found myself getting caught up in it because everyone else was caught up in it. I'll be honest -- for me, it was a bit of a distraction. I can remember when I got within one or two hits, I got real angry at myself because I was distracted. I had a long talk with myself after one of those games, I don't remember which one."

It was somewhere from Sept. 7-9, 1992. The Brewers were hosting the Indians for a quick, three-game homestand, and Yount felt pressure to reach his milestone at County Stadium before heading out for a seven-game trip to Baltimore and Boston.

He got a hit in each of the first two games of the series, then went hitless in his first three at-bats in the finale before knocking a seventh-inning single against Mesa.

"I can remember saying, 'Hey, snap out of it. This isn't about one hit,'" Yount said. "I was trying to get back to the guy who had played 19 years at that point on a daily basis instead of focusing on this one silly hit. I guess it's human nature. So many people are making such a big deal out of this one hit out of 3,000, and it's amazing what happens when there's something in your mind that hasn't been there before."

When he got his milestone hit, longtime teammates Paul Molitor and Jim Gantner were the first to embrace Yount at first base.

"You get 3,000 hits because of longevity, and I guess what I'm most proud of," Yount said.

Veteran scribe Ton Haudricourt noted Sept. 9, 1992 was also the day Brewers president Allan H. "Bud" Selig's fellow owners named him Chairman of the Major League Executive Council. The vote made Selig the interim Commissioner in the wake of Fay Vincent's resignation two days earlier. Selig has run Major League Baseball ever since.