I DON'T REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT MY first game for the Brewers, but I remember the first grounder that was hit to me.

We were playing the Red Sox, and a high chopper was hit over the mound. Cecil Cooper, who became a teammate later, was on first. With the inexperience of an 18-year-old who had been out of high school for less than a year, I caught the ball and didn't know how to go into second base, and I ended up getting spiked.

Everyone in Wisconsin remembers the Brewers going to the World Series in 1982, and it came down to the last game of season before we won the A.L. East.

The final four games of the season were in Baltimore. We came in with a three-game lead and lost the first three games. The Orioles tied us going into the final game, and we were going against Jim Palmer.

We were in Baltimore facing a great pitcher, and we were on a losing streak. Not too many people expected us to win, and one thing was certain. It was the time to have a great game. We may have lost three in a row, but There was a quiet confidence in the clubhouse.

I hit a homer in the first inning and had another homer and triple in the game. The other guys also came through, and we won, 10-2. That's one game I'll always remember. It came down to one game for the championship and that's all we had on our minds. We knew we could go out and win it.

You couldn't write a better script. I'd rank that as my best game, especially under the circumstances.

We took the fourth game and came from behind to win the fifth game, 4-3, at home. I didn't hit much during that series, but I did catch a grounder hit by Rod Carew for the final out of the game. That was my most memorable moment of the playoffs. It was so noisy that you couldn't hear anything on the field.

We should have won the World Series against the Cardinals. Even without Rollie Fingers in the bullpen (he missed the postseason with an injured shoulder), we had some chances to do that. We went back to St. Louis up 3-2, and all we had to do was win one game, but the Cardinals beat us 13-1 in Game 6 and 6-3 in Game 7.

When I was a kid, I dreamed of hitting a home run in the World Series, and I did that in Milwaukee. Willie McGee took away another homer from me. The Cardinals were one of the best defensive teams I've ever seen.

Looking back, I don't know if you could have had more do-or-die games in a few weeks than the Brewers did at the end of the '82 season. There were five big games, counting the final game of the regular season against the Orioles, the last three games of the playoffs and the last game of the World Series. We won them all but the last one.

A lot of people ask about the game where I got my 3,000th hit. There was a little buildup to that in Milwaukee. We came home for a three-game series against the Indians, and I needed three hits to reach 3,000.

I joked with Bud Selig that I'd get one hit in each of the games to draw more fans. That's exactly how it worked out.

I needed one more hit in the second game to reach 3,000, and I had a final at-bat in the eighth inning. The pitcher threw four straight balls, and none of them were near the plate. It was Cushion Night, and the fans started booing and throwing their cushions.

It finally happened in the eighth inning of the last game of the series. Jose Mesa was pitching for the Indians, and I lined a single to right center. Molitor and (Jim) Gantner were the first players to congratulate me.

I was a pretty introverted, laid-back kid when I came to the majors. Playing in a place like Milwaukee was ideal for someone like me. The personality fit the surroundings. It was certainly a situation that was meant to be.

ROBIN YOUNT FILE

Yount dominates the Brewers all-time statistics. -He leads the team in games played (2,856), at-bats (11,008), hits (3,142), doubles (583), triples (126), home runs (251), runs scored (1,632) and RBI (1,406).

After 20 seasons (1974-93) with the Brewers, Yount was inducted to Hall of Fame in 1999, his first year of eligibility.

A two-time A.L. Most Valuable Player, Yount won the honor in 1982 and 1989. He is one of three players to be named an MVP at different positions, as an arm injury forced Yount to move from shortstop ('82 MVP) to center field ('89 MVP) in 1985. Stan Musial and Hank Greenberg won MVPs as first basemen and outfielders.

Yount is the only player to win a league fielding title at different positions--leading A.L. shortstops with a .985 fielding percentage in 1981 and topping outfielders with a .997 mark in 1986.

A clutch performance: Yount hit .414 (12 for 29) with two four-hit games in his only World Series. That capped a season when Yount had career highs in hits (210), batting average (.331), extra-base hits (87) and HRs (29).