Editor's note: Robin Yount will chat with OnMilwaukee.com readers in a live blog tonight beginning at 7 p.m. (details below)

Brewers legend Robin Yount dropped by the OnMilwaukee.com offices earlier this summer to discuss Robinade and a variety of other topics, including his devotion to the Brewers, the reason he's not coaching anymore and the evolving relationship between players and fans. Enjoy this Milwaukee Talks interview with Robin Yount.

OnMilwaukee.com: What have you been up to lately?

Robin Yount: I've been keeping pretty busy, mostly trying to sell some Robinade!

OMC: How has that been going?

RY: It's been going pretty well. We added another flavor this year (Old School Limeade) and that's been going well. We're doing some things with the Web site (robinade.org) and selling some licensed merchandise. The biggest thing is making people aware that it's available. It's a competitive marketplace, so it's a process. We're getting into more stores, which is good. We're going to be going into some schools, too, which will help.

The biggest thing for me is that it's a chance to stay connected with people in Milwaukee and Wisconsin and a chance to raise some money for the MACC (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer) Fund, too. 

OMC: The MACC Fund has a long history in town. You were in town when it started and took part in a lot of their events. Is that history what prompted you to use Robinade to raise money for the organization?

RY: We were involved when it started. I think I was around when they had their first golf tournament. They used to try to schedule it for a day off and about 90 percent of the players would show up. So, we were around at the very beginning.

Obviously, when it comes to charitable stuff, the kids are always first in my attention span. I want to go there first when I can help charities out, so I have chosen the MACC Fund for now. I would love to someday see this grow to where it was really significant and I can help others. I love the MACC Fund obviously, Make a Wish and Ronald McDonald House. I was at the Ronald McDonald House opening here, whenever that was. Those are my three (charities) that I am associated with.

OMC: You're obviously associated with the Brewers, too. You still follow the team pretty closely, don't you?

RY: Oh yeah, I listen to them on satellite radio now. I was here that long; its not that I have forgotten about baseball. If I am going to cheer for a team, it is not hard to choose which one. I still have a lot of friends here in that dugout. The one year I was here full-time, a number of those guys are still there. I have a good relationship, and I feel close to a lot of those players, and I want to know how they are doing.

OMC: How often do you get to Milwaukee?

RY: I am in and out. We try to get here about once a month, at least during the baseball season.

OMC: I assume the people treat you like you never left.

RY: That is why I keep coming back. I have always felt that the people here have been so nice to me. I am trying, I don't want to say, "giving back," but they have been so good to me that I want to stay in touch with them. I guess that is a better way of putting it. I enjoy the people here; I always have. Like I said, they were so good to me throughout my career that I have just enjoyed it back here.

OMC: Being a Hall of Famer puts you in a pretty select group, but you're in an even smaller group of guys that played for only one team. Now that you and Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken and Jim Rice have gone in, some people feel that one-team guys will become more rare. What do you think about that?

RY: That is a product of the system today. There are many, many reasons for movement today that we didn't have years ago. I would like to believe, in certain cases, it is still going to happen. I would certainly hope that Derek Jeter is going to retire a Yankee, but you never know in today's system. But there are going to be a few of these guys that still do, but the system is so different. The finances for players and organizations free up all these different things that cause issues. Certain organizations and small-market teams may want to keep people, but unfortunately the numbers do not work and they have to let them go for whatever. It is so easy to move nowadays and so acceptable.

OMC: Free agency has made a lot of players rich, but don't you think that something has been lost in this era of movement? It seems like players don't bond with fans the way they used to.

RY: There is no question. I don't think the city either gets to develop that relationship with their guys. That core group we had from about '78 to '85 or so, we had the same basic core for seven or eight years that it would be rare in today's game for most teams. That is so rare today because of the movement. Even in the clubhouse today, you see it. You don't see nearly the camaraderie in the clubhouses today, and we have one of the best ones today.

It is not the same as it was, and that is all related to the movement. The guys are not together long enough to develop that real bond. You have four or five guys together over here that like to have fun together, and these six over here like to have fun. But that 25 guys all on the same page doing the same thing off the field, you don't see anymore.

OMC: The player-fan relationship has changed, hasn't it? In the late 1970s and early ‘80s, some Brewers players used to stop at tailgate parties on the way home. Now, the players park in a parking lot that is off-limits to fans. Whether it's because of the salaries or the times we're in, there seems to be more of a wall between players and fans.

RY: We could get away with a lot more than they can today. In a way I feel sorry for the guys today. They can still have the camaraderie and the fun amongst themselves, but there is no way they can get away with some of the stuff we did off the field without camera phones or front-page headlines all over the country. They just couldn't do it.

OMC: Another thing that seems to have changed over the years is the level of fan patience. It seems like fans are a lot quicker to boo players and take a negative outlook than in the past ...

RY: I have noticed that, too. That is a little different than when we were playing. But every player that has ever played has gotten booed at some point. But it does seem like they are quicker to judge now. The reason for that, I do not have the answer for you, but I do notice it. It may be because they do not develop that love affair yet.

With us, a lot of the fans felt like we were one of them when you are here for quite a while, at least for that core group. It would be like booing your kids. Today, they are not so close with these guys, yet that it is easier to boo them if they do not like what they see. I certainly see that in the fan base: a quicker judgment of what is happening.

But, I will still tell you -- it is a lot worse (in) other places. It has gone up exponentially around the country. That same attitude may be worse here, but I guarantee you that it is worse than it used to be in these other places, too, for the same reason. (The reaction) is almost pitch-to-pitch. I mean that is an exaggeration, but that is how quickly they will turn either way. They have played under that scrutiny in New York forever. That is how the New York fans have always treated their players. And Philly is worse. They are the greatest places to play when you win, or the worst places to play when you lose. So, you are on the extreme level on both sides.

OMC: It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years since you were inducted into the Hall of Fame along with George Brett and Nolan Ryan. What was that time like?

RY: That was the most nervous weekend of my life. You know how I don't like to publicly speak. But I worried about that (speech) for six weeks, leading up to it. Every night I am laying in bed, "No, I have to give a speech!" I couldn't sleep for six weeks. I called the president of the Hall of Fame at the time, Dale Petroskey, and he said, "This is all about you guys. We want to do everything we can to make you enjoy it." I said, "OK, Dale, I am going to ask you for one thing: let me go first for the speeches, because if I sit there and have to listen to three other speeches, I am not going to enjoy anything."

George (Brett) got so mad at me because he ended up being last. He said, "You went and asked to be first? You can do that?" I said, "I'm sorry, just because you didn't think about it, you know?" And let me tell you, that was the best thing I ever did. I got that over and it was like a ton of weights came off my shoulders when I sat down. It was like, "Now, I'm done! I can enjoy it!"

Going back is so much better than the year that you go in. You can have fun, enjoy it, you are relaxed; it is great going back. Your year is pretty stressful, at least for me. You have very little free time. You are doing this for this, an interview for that, and then it seems like you are in your room for two minutes, and then, "Now I have to go to this, and now I have to be at this." I enjoy it now; I really love going back now. That year was really hard on me.

OMC: Now that you're not coaching, that weekend is circled on your calendar, isn't it?

RY: Oh yeah. I missed it my first year when I coached at Arizona, and I felt awkward asking to go that year. And actually Joe (Garagiola) Jr., the general manager at the time, got mad at me for not going. I said, "I'm the new guy on the block. I wasn't going to ask to leave and miss two or three games." They said, "Well, you should have asked and gone." So, that is one of the years I missed, but they wished I would have gone. It is a pretty cool weekend, though.

OMC: Do you see yourself getting back into coaching?

RY: Probably not. In all honesty, I am not going to say 100 percent no. I really enjoyed it; I enjoyed it a lot. I do miss it, but I do have a lot of interests outside of the game. To take the full-time coaching position, there is no time to do these other things. You spend 10 hours a day at the ballpark, and it is almost an eight-month job nowadays. There are too many things I have to give up to do that full-time.

Either way, I am missing something. I miss coaching, but I don't miss coaching as much as at times when I was coaching, I was missing these other things. That weighed a little heavier than the coaching, and I knew I could still be around the baseball stuff. The only part I miss about not being around baseball is not being able to make an impact on anything that happens. When you are only there a few times, you can't walk in and say, "Hey, you guys should be doing this and doing this." It doesn't go over too big. But when you are there full-time, you feel like you are making an impact, and when you are only there a little bit, you can't.

OMC: What if the Brewers called you back for the stretch run like last year?

RY: Oh, I had a great time. That was the best! I was telling someone earlier that I am already applying for that job for this year. With two weeks left in the season, if you are in the pennant race, I want to be the bench coach. I don't want to get in the same way that I did last year, because I don't want anyone to lose their job so that I can get in. But I sure would like to be the bench coach again for the last two weeks of the season and the pennant race. I loved last year; that was a lot of fun. I was in the right place at the right time. If they need me for the last two weeks again, I'm ready.