Ned Yost

Edgar Frederick “Ned” Yost III (born August 19, 1954) is an American former Major League Baseball catcher and manager of the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals.

He played for the Brewers, Texas Rangers, and Montreal Expos.

Yost was born on California's North Coast in Eureka.

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.

Yost was selected twice in the 1974 MLB Draft, first by the Montreal Expos in the second round (33rd overall) in January, but he signed his first professional contract with the New York Mets 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 (1985) before retiring.

He never had more than 242 at bats in a season.

He ended his career with a .212 batting average, 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 in Jackson, Mississippi, in between his playing days and coaching days.

After a brief stint managing in the minors, Yost joined the Atlanta Braves organization.

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.

He was the Braves' bullpen coach from 1991 to 1998 and earned a ring as a part of the 1995 World Series championship team that defeated the Cleveland Indians in six games.

He also was part of the 1991, 1992, 1996, and 1999 National League pennant-winning teams that lost the World Series to the Minnesota Twins (1991), the Toronto Blue Jays (1992), and the New York Yankees (1996, 1999) respectively.

In 1999 Yost became the Braves' third base coach, a position he maintained until the end of the 2002 season.

On October 29, 2002, Yost was named the Brewers manager, succeeding Jerry Royster.

National League manager Tony La Russa named Yost to be part of his coaching staff for the 2005 MLB All-Star Game.

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.

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 racer and baseball fan Dale Earnhardt.

Yost's managing came under fire late in 2007.

During the season, the Brewers held an 8 1⁄2 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 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.

They were eliminated by the Phillies, 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.

On May 13, 2010, Yost was named manager of the Kansas City Royals, replacing Trey Hillman.

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, Yost led the Royals to their first playoff berth since 1985, finishing 89–73.

Yost's Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles 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.