Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost remembers the night he and his son had the conversation.

It was spring 2008 in Phoenix, and at the time Yost was the skipper of the Milwaukee Brewers. His son, Ned Yost IV, was a first baseman in the Brewers’ minor-league system. They lived together during spring training and ate dinner together many nights. The meals were enjoyable, as they talked about baseball and family.

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But on this night, in particular, there was an elephant in the room to address.

Earlier that day, the elder Yost — “Big Ned” — had received a call from the Brewers’ farm director. The younger Yost — “Little Ned” — had competed well for the upper-level minor-league teams in spring training, which was a little unexpected, as he had never played above Class A. He had been excited for the opportunity, and he made the most of it. Still, the organization decided to move him back to A-ball, and the farm director had reached out to Big Ned with an explanation.

“They called me and said, ‘He can go down to A-ball and work his way back up, or he can become a coach,’” the father says. “I’m like, dang. That’s a hard thing to have to tell a kid.”

Ned Yost III as a manager of the Brewers. (G Fiume/Getty Images)

The business of baseball plays out in many forms. It can stifle dreams. It can change lives. Front-office executives and managers understand those are the circumstances, but this situation — a father having to tell a 25-year-old son and roommate the raw truth — truly highlights the business.

“I told my son, ‘You’re going to have to make up your mind,’” Big Ned says. “‘What do you want to do?’ He got tears in his eyes. It was a hard thing for him to do. I think he thought about it all night but showed up the next day as a coach.’”

Little Ned said the news surprised him.

“It was the toughest decision of my life,” he says. “I mean, it was more than 20 years of having a dream and trying to accomplish that goal, then it gets flipped on its head in one day.”

Now 11 years later, inside the visiting clubhouse at Triple-A Omaha’s Werner Park, Little Ned swipes his iPad. He has his hat on backward and is wearing Under Armour sneakers as he sits on a folding chair next to his No. 4 jersey, which hangs in the locker.

It’s the morning, which means it’s time for the third-base coach for the Triple-A San Antonio Missions to throw batting practice.

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“Let’s head to the cages,” he says.

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As he steps out of the clubhouse, Little Ned talks about his dad’s team and his own dream to coach at the highest level. He’s chatty — even if family friends such as well-known comedian Jeff Foxworthy (and his brother Jay) think Little Ned is so dang quiet.

“He’s just a ‘yes sir, no sir’ guy,” said Deborah Yost, Little Ned’s mom and Big Ned’s wife of more than 40 years. “He’s very quiet.”

Let’s not sugarcoat things about Big Ned: He usually ignites the room, whether it’s during the family’s annual hunting weekend or in his office at Kauffman Stadium sparring with reporters. Earlier this year, The Athletic’s Rustin Dodd wrote of Big Ned: “He is prickly and short, stubborn and dry, a rascal who enjoys the art of giving people shit.”

He's dry, combative and likes giving people grief. This is Ned Yost. But it's not all of him. On the Royals' manager, his media persona, and what it's like to cover a last baseball cowboy:

The World According to Ned: "No, I'm not answering that shit."

— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) March 26, 2019

At the outset, it does not appear as if Little Ned, 37, has even remotely the same tendencies. He high-fives his players, such as Brewers prospect Lucas Erceg, as they enter the cage. He ducks under the black netting and stands behind the L-screen, tossing baseballs underhanded.

This daily task is a window into the work ethic it truly takes to hold a position like his father’s. It also provides a glimpse into how Little Ned’s abrupt foray into coaching has turned into a life’s passion.

Ned Yost IV at work. (Alec Lewis/The Athletic)

“Everyone’s got goals, you know?” Little Ned says. “To coach or manage or be at the highest level is the ultimate goal.”

Only five pairs of fathers and sons have become managers at the major league level. Dick and George Sisler. Bob and Joel Skinner. Buddy and David Bell. Connie and Earle Mack. Bob and Aaron Boone.

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Of course Big Ned wants his son to join the list. He has monitored his son’s progression through players such as Brett Phillips, whom the Royals acquired from the Brewers last season. When Phillips walked in the clubhouse, one of Big Ned’s first questions to Phillips was: “How did you like Little Ned as a coach?”

“He said, ‘He was one of the best coaches he’d ever had because he was in it for me,’” Big Ned says. “That was always my mindset. I was in it for the kids.”

Development is the heart and soul of minor league coaching, Big Ned says. Over time, Little Ned has learned that. Truly, he’s learned so much because becoming a major league manager was not always Little Ned’s plan.

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Little Ned’s earliest life memories center around his time in Sumter, S.C.

When he was 7 years old in 1989, his dad was the manager of the Sumter Braves minor-league team. Little Ned often hung out in the clubhouse. He watched how players such as Vinny Castilla swung the bat in cages before games. He saw the joy and passion players such as Ryan Klesko had as he stepped on the diamond.

When his dad was promoted to bullpen coach with the big-league Braves in 1991, Little Ned saw the joy his own father had in the pursuit of his own passion, a passion itself that had shifted after a five-year big league career.

“I didn’t know what else I would do to support my family,” Big Ned says, “because baseball was all I really knew.”

As a coach in Atlanta, Big Ned caught Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. Little Ned spent time around them during the years they won four National League pennants (1991, ’92, ’95 and ’96). He was able to go on occasional road trips with the Braves. He would serve as the bat boy, watching Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff and David Justice up close.

“Big Ned” congratulating Ryan Klesko after a homer. (Steve Schaefer/AFP/Getty Images)

Of course he played baseball as a youth. It was a natural step, but Big Ned never pushed the sport on any of his children. His sons Andrew and Joshua played but did not love it. His daughter, Jenny, had other passions. With Little Ned, though, it was a different story.

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“With baseball, it was, if you want to do it, do it,” Deborah says. “And do good at it. Joshua’s passion was, he was more of a thrill-seeker. Andrew was a thrill-seeker plus baseball. Big Ned has seen each boy grow and mature into what they love to do. And I think that’s where he gets his pride.”

Big Ned and his boys from 2016 All-Star week. (Courtesy of Deborah Yost)

Being around those mid-’90s Braves teams, Little Ned grew to love baseball. He was also good at it. He played at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Ga., and helped the school win a state championship in 1999. In 2000, his team lost in the state championship to Lowndes High School from Valdosta, which was led by future 11-year MLB veteran Stephen Drew.

The successful senior year earned Little Ned an opportunity at nearby University of Georgia. As a redshirt freshman, he hit three homers in his first 30 at-bats, but didn’t play much. Realizing he needed more opportunities to play, he transferred to Dallas Baptist. From there, he attended Wisconsin-Oshkosh where he hit .413 as a senior with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs. The production was enough for the Brewers to sign him as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2005.

Little Ned was a first baseman. A 6-foot-2, 195-pound right-handed hitter, according to his Brevard County Manatees minor league baseball card. He envisioned playing in the majors as his father had. That was his dream.

Dreams, however, can shift in an instant, sometimes for the worse.

“Ten years later, I’m feeling pretty good about my decision,” Little Ned says, laughing.

Each spring in Phoenix, the Brewers split up squads to coincide with where they expect players to land when the season begins. Little Ned, after having struggled the season before, unexpectedly started with the Triple-A squad in 2008. He was 25 years old, having played professional baseball for three years in the Brewers’ system but primarily with the High-A squad. So this placement was surprising.

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“I knew I wasn’t going to stick with that team,” Little Ned says. “They moved me down to the Double-A squad. I played two or three games and did really well, and I’m going, ‘Well, I have a chance to make this club.’”

In one of those first few games, the squad started an outfielder over Little Ned at first base.

“I’m like, okay, something is going on here,” he says.

Indeed, something was.

Little Ned and his dad had the conversation later that night.

“I think, for them living together, Little Ned looked up to (his father),” Deborah says. “Ned said, ‘I played in the majors, but I was mostly a backup catcher. That’s not what the plan was, really. That was to get me to this managerial point.’ I think Little Ned looked at it as words of wisdom. And I think the transition for him was a big lump in (his) throat that (he had) to swallow.

“But when he got there and started coaching, he was awesome. He looked exactly like his dad did when his dad was young.”

Ned Yost IV with the Missions. (Courtesy of Rey Holguin)

Early on, Big Ned watched his son work with other players. He noticed what so many others had.

“For me, he was very quiet,” Big Ned says. “I was like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to me more assertive. You’ve got to be able to express your opinion. If somebody asks you something, you’ve got to be able to give an opinion.’ I think he’s gotten to the point where he’s really doing that.”

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Little Ned continues to toss batting practice at Werner Park. When he finishes, he smiles.

“That’s every day,” he says. “I’ve been doing that since 2008.”

The batting practice is only part of his role with the Missions. He coaches third base. He directs outfielders in terms of positioning. He serves as a liaison for Missions manager Rick Sweet between players and coaches.

“My favorite part about this job is getting to be around the guys, getting to know them,” Little Ned says. “It’s so different from high school and college, where it’s like, there’s Coach. Now, it’s Ned. It’s almost more like a friendship than a superiority. It’s not always about baseball.”

San Antonio Missions Manager (Skip) Rick Sweet and Coach Ned Yost IV @RickSweet16 @YostQuatro @missionsmilb @Brewers @MiLB

— Reynaldo (Rey) Holguin (@RAHolguin_Photo) May 24, 2019

The same can be said about the Yost family.

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Each winter, after their seasons end, both Neds return to their respective homes in Georgia. As a player, Little Ned used to spend that time as a construction worker. Now he spends it with his family and even his dad.

By now, the hunting weeks in November are well known. There are two teams: the Thump Monkeys and the Killbillies. The teams earn 10 points for shooting a buck and five points for shooting a doe. Little Ned competes for the Killbillies — but he hasn’t always. Years ago, Big Ned, who is teammates with longtime friend Jeff Foxworthy, traded his son.

“Oh yeah,” Little Ned says. “For some T-shirts.”

It’s true: Father Ned traded son Ned from his hunting team for T-shirts.

What kind of T-shirts were they?

“To be honest with you, I don’t think I ever saw them,” Yost IV says.

So he did just want to get his son off his hunting team?

“That’s a good possibility,” Yost IV says.

Jay Foxworthy owns a T-shirt company and is adamant that he did make the shirts. A trade is a trade. He acquired Little Ned fair and square.

“They call me Nice Ned,” Little Ned says. “It’s funny. They also pick on me because they say I’m super quiet. … It’s just, he talks so much that sometimes my stuff gets overlooked.”

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The more you get to know Little Ned, Foxworthy says, the more similarities you’ll see between father and son.

They both adore their families. (Little Ned doesn’t miss an opportunity to speak about his daughter, Amberlin.) They both love baseball, as evident by their career choices and their frequent conversations. Even this past week, when the Royals promoted four players from Triple-A Omaha, Big Ned checked in with his son for a scouting report.

Sometimes when the two talk, they discuss their opinions on the current state of baseball, things like baseball’s properties, the lack of bunting, the shift and so on.

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“We probably share some of the same ideas about how to coach the game,” Little Ned says, “and we probably have some different ideas.”

They both have a sense of humor, though only one utilizes it with the media.

“I feel like he gives the media a hard time sometimes,” Little Ned says. “The questions that they ask, either he can’t answer them or he has answered them. And it gets a little tiring. He doesn’t continue to answer them over and over again. Sometimes he’ll give you a smart remark or whatever. People can take it the wrong way. That’s who he is. It doesn’t bother him. It’s the same around his friends back home. He gives people a hard time. Deep down, they know he cares and he’s joking.”

A nice moment in Phoenix as Ned Yost and his son Ned Yost IV, a coach in the #Brewers organization, meet at home plate — and Ned has hugs to go around for the entire umpiring crew. #Royals

— FOX Sports Kansas City (@FSKansasCity) March 23, 2019

The game finally begins on this Sunday afternoon, then the rain falls. Once the delay is announced, Little Ned hops over puddles while heading toward the visiting clubhouse. He laughs alongside prospects — some of whom are now in the bigs, such as Keston Hiura.

Minutes later, outside the clubhouse, he takes off his No. 4 jersey. Yost III wears the No. 3 jersey in honor of the late Dale Earnhardt, a longtime friend, Yost IV says. When Yost IV started coaching, he wore No. 9. But one day a player asked if he could have No. 9.

Yost IV gave the number up — and picked, naturally enough, No. 4.

“When I came here,” Little Ned says, “I was like, you know what, I’m going to be No. 4. My dad is No. 3. He’s the third, I’m the fourth. I wanted it.”

With San Antonio, he is driven to improve daily to achieve his goal to coach at the highest level. Sweet, who manages the Missions, says he’s seen Little Ned improve more during the past six years than any one of his players.

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Because Little Ned had never played Triple-A ball, Sweet knew the transition would be quite an adjustment. Early on, Little Ned struggled to get a grasp on coaching third base, sending runners more often than not.

“For him to hold up a baserunner at third base is always pretty difficult,” Sweet says.

But over time, Little Ned has become more accustomed to holding runners when necessary. Sweet recalls a moment a few weeks ago that jumped out. In consecutive games, Little Ned had held runners at third base. Baserunners behind them, though, thinking Little Ned’s aggressiveness was going to show, rounded second hard and were thrown out.

Sweet said Little Ned made the right call in both instances; the outs were the baserunners’ fault. Yet Little Ned took the blame because he coaches baserunning, so the outs, he felt, were his responsibility.

“If I were ever fortunate enough to get a job in the big leagues as a manager,” Sweet says, “he’d be one of the first guys I’d go talk to. He’s my confidant. He’s my guy I totally, 100 percent trust to give me answers.”

In 2014 and ’15, Little Ned watched his dad achieve his own goals with Kansas City’s teams, winning the AL pennant both years and the World Series title in the latter season.

Little Ned attended the World Series games.

“I was so happy for my dad,” he says. “He deserved it. He started his managerial career in Milwaukee (for) a small-market club that was not very good. Building them up. Getting fired. Not getting that chance to celebrate and then getting hired on with Kansas City. Same situation. Building them up and getting to see it through, that meant a lot. So, yeah, I was very happy.”

Manatees coach Ned Yost IV had a great time watching his father win the World Series!

— Manatees Baseball (@BCManatees) November 23, 2015

In a similar sense, Big Ned is stoked about his son’s progression.

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“He’s done a good job since that spring of 2008,” he says. “He’s been coaching now for six or seven years, and he’s really turned into a phenomenal third-base coach. He’s more confident in himself. You can tell. He’s very quiet. He’s different than I am. He’s got more patience than I do. But he’s very smart. He knows how to communicate, and you talk to players about him and they love him. Because they feel like he’s all-in to what they’re trying to do.

“I’ve seen him develop more of an opinion over the course of the last three years in Triple-A, which is important. You gotta have it as a coach.”

Big Ned gives his son all the credit for the on-the-field success. He does not claim any. But you know he’s not done talking.

“I think he got most of his handsomeness from me.”

(Top photo of Ned III and Ned IV, along with Ned IV’s daughter, courtesy of Rey Holguin)