Rod Carew

Infobox MLB retired


width=
name=Rod Carew
position=First baseman / Second baseman
bats=Left
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1945|10|1
city-state|Gatun|Panama
debutdate=April 11
debutyear=by|1967
debutteam=Minnesota Twins
finaldate=October 5
finalyear=by|1985
finalteam=California Angels
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.328
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=3,053
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=1,015
teams=
* Minnesota Twins (by|1967-by|1978)
* California Angels (by|1979-by|1985)
highlights=
* 18x All-Star selection (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984)
* 1977 AL MVP
* 1967 AL Rookie of the Year
* 1977 Roberto Clemente Award
* Minnesota Twins #29 retired
* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim #29 retired
hofdate=by|1991
hofvote=90.5% (first ballot)

Rodney Cline "Rod" Carew (born October 1, by|1945), is a former Major League Baseball infielder for the Minnesota Twins and the former California Angels from by|1967 to by|1985. He threw right-handed and batted left-handed.

Early life

Rod Carew was born to a Panamanian mother on a train in the town of Gatún, which, at that time, was in the Panama Canal Zone. The train was racially segregated; white passengers were given the better forward cars, while non-whites, like Carew's mother, were forced to ride in the rearward cars. When she went into labor, a Jewish physician traveling on the train, Dr. Rodney Cline, delivered the baby, who was named Rodney Cline Carew in appreciation.cite book |author=Pietrusza, David; Matthew Silverman; Gershman, Michael |title=Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia |publisher=Total Sports |location=New York |year=2000 |pages= |isbn=1-892129-34-5 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=]

At age 14, the Carews emigrated to the United States. He lived in the Washington Heights section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City. Rod Carew attended George Washington High School, which current Los Angeles Dodgers star left fielder Manny Ramirez attended. He signed an amateur free agent contract with the Minnesota Twins a day after graduating. [ [http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/ps3265/tag/RodCarew "This Week In Baseball History - Week ending 10/5"] , "Sporting News", October 8, 2007. Accessed June 10, 2008. "In 1958, the Carew family migrated to America and settled in the Washington Heights section of New York City."] cite book |author=Charlton, James; Shatzkin, Mike; Holtje, Stephen |title=The Ballplayers: baseball's ultimate biographical reference |publisher=Arbor House/William Morrow |location=New York |year=1990 |pages=pp 155-156 |isbn=0-87795-984-6 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=] Three years later, he was called up and became a teammate of first baseman Harmon Killebrew. One of his teammates was a pitcher named Ron Kline.

Major League career

Rod Carew won the American League's Rookie of the Year award in by|1967 and was an All-Star in every year but his final one, by|1985. In his career, Carew won seven batting titles.

In by|1972, Carew led the American League in batting, hitting .318, and remarkably, without hitting a single home run for the only time in his career. During the by|1977 season, Carew batted .388, which at the time was the highest since Boston's Ted Williams hit .406 in by|1941. For his efforts, Carew won the American League's Most Valuable Player award.

In 1975, Carew joined Ty Cobb as the only players to lead both the American and National Leagues in batting average for three consecutive seasons. Carew achieved the feat in by|1973, by|1974, and by|1975. Carew also stole home 17 times in his career, including seven times in the 1969 season. [ [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_stbah.shtml Stealing Home Base Records by Baseball Almanac ] ]

Originally a second baseman, Carew moved to first base in September by|1975. In 1979, frustrated by the Twins' inability to keep young talent, and after considerable conflict with team owner Calvin Griffith [ [http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198108/baseball/6] ] , Carew announced his intention to leave the Twins. Carew was subsequently traded to the Angels for outfielder Ken Landreaux, catcher/first baseman Dave Engle, right-handed pitcher Paul Hartzell, and left-handed pitcher Brad Havens.

On August 4, by|1985, Carew joined an elite group of ballplayers when he got his 3,000th basehit against Minnesota Twins left-hander Frank Viola at the former Anaheim Stadium. Coincidentally, Chicago White Sox right-hander Tom Seaver won his 300th career game on the same day. The by|1985 season would be his last. After the season, Rod Carew, a free agent, received no contract offers from other teams. Carew suspected that baseball owners were deliberately colluding to keep him from playing. The suspicion was justified; on January 10, by|1995, nearly a decade after his forced retirement, arbitrator Thomas Roberts ruled that the owners had indeed violated the rules of baseball's second collusion agreement, which they had previously agreed to abide by. Rod Carew was awarded damages equivalent to what he would have likely received in by|1986: $782,036. [ [http://www.cnn.com/EVENTS/year_in_review/sports/index4.html] ]

Rod Carew finished his career with 3,053 hits and a lifetime batting average of .328.

Rod Carew was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in by|1991, his first year of eligibility. He was the 22nd player so elected. In by|1999, he ranked #61 on "The Sporting News'"' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for Major League Baseball's All-Century Team.

Military service

During the 1960s, Rod Carew served a 6-year commitment in the United States Marine Corps Reserves as a combat engineer.

Confusion over conversion to Judaism

Rod Carew has never formally converted to Judaism. However, he married a Jewish woman, Marilynn Levy, and his children were raised in the Jewish tradition. A chief source propagating the misconception that Carew converted to Judaism is the 1994 song, "The Chanukah Song", written and performed by Jewish entertainer Adam Sandler, in which he lists famous Jews of the 20th century. He names Carew thusly: "...O.J. Simpson... not a Jew! But guess who is: Hall of Famer Rod Carew — he converted". Sandler has reiterated this mistake in later incarnations of the song.

Adding to the confusion is an article written in "Esquire" magazine in by|1976. Jewish sportswriter Harry Stein released his "All Time All-Star Argument Starter" article which consisted of five different baseball teams, each based on ethnicity. Rod Carew was erroneously named the second baseman on Stein's All-Jewish team.

After Retirement

Carew moved to the upscale community of Anaheim Hills, California while playing with the Angels and remained there upon announcing his retirement. [cite news | first= Jim | last= McCurdie | title= They Have Carew's Number | url= http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58000349.html?dids=58000349:58000349&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Aug+13%2C+1986&author=JIM+McCURDIE&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=They+Have+Carew's+Number&pqatl=google | work= Los Angeles | date= 1986-10-13 | accessdate=2008-04-15 ] Following his retirement, Rod Carew has worked as a hitting coach for the Angels and the Milwaukee Brewers and is credited with helping develop young hitters like Garret Anderson, Jim Edmonds, and Tim Salmon.

On January 19, 2004, Panama City's National Stadium was renamed "Rod Carew Stadium". [ [http://www.asamblea.gob.pa/GACETAS/2000/2004/24969_2004.PDF] ] In by|2005, Carew was named the second baseman on the Major League Baseball Latino Legends Team.

His uniform number 29 has been retired by both the Twins and the Angels.

Carew's daughter, Michelle, was diagnosed with leukemia in September, by|1995. Her rare Panamanian-Jewish heritage dramatically lowered possibility of finding a matching donor for a bone marrow transplant. In spite of Carew's heartfelt pleas for those of similar ethnic background to come forward, no donor did and one could not be found. Michelle Carew died on April 17, 1996 at the age of 18. A statue of her has been installed in Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

In by|2006, Rod Carew became the spokesperson for the Solid Contact Baseball companycite web |url=http://www.solidcontactbaseball.com/rodcarew.html |title=Rod Carew - Baseball Hall of Fame '91 |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-09-18] , based in New Canaan, Connecticut, has developed a product they call the "GAP Hitter", which simulates not only fastballs, but curveballs and sliders as well.

Chewing tobacco use

Carew began using chewing tobacco in by|1964 and was a regular user up to by|1992, when a cancerous growth in his mouth was discovered and removed. The years of use had heavily damaged his teeth and gums, and Carew has spent a reported $100,000 in restorative dental work.cite web |url=http://www.globalink.org/tobacco/trg/Chapter17/Chap17_SmokelessPage2.html |title=The Tobacco Reference Guide by David Moyer|format= |work= |accessdate=2008-09-18] Use in baseball has markedly declined. The home teams used to provide players chewing tobacco and smokeless tobacco ("snuff" or "dip"), but have been prohibited from doing it since by|1993.cite web |url=http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/news/story.asp?newsId=1736 |title=So, why do baseball players chew? |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-09-18]

ee also

* List of players from Panama in Major League Baseball
* DHL Hometown Heroes
* List of major league players with 2,000 hits
* List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
* List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
* 3000 hit club
* Hitting for the cycle
* List of Major League Baseball batting champions
* List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
* List of Major League Baseball triples champions

References

External links

*
*
* [http://rodcarew29.com/ rodcarew29.com] Official website
* [http://www.hofmag.com/content/view/36/126/ Ten Keys To Good Hitting] by Rod Carew