Everything about Rod Carew totally explained
Rodney Cline "Rod" Carew (born
October 1, ), is a former
Major League Baseball infielder for the
Minnesota Twins and the former
California Angels from to . 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.
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
Boston Red Sox star
left fielder Manny Ramirez attended. He signed an amateur
free agent contract with the
Minnesota Twins a day after graduating. Three years later, he was called up and became a teammate of future
Hall of Fame first baseman Harmon Killebrew. Coincidentally, 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 and was an
All-Star in every year but his final one, . In his career, Carew won seven batting titles.
In, Carew led the
American League in
batting, hitting .318 without hitting a single
home run. He would finish his career with 92, but the was the only one in which he didn't hit a home run. During the season he hit .388, which was, at the time, the highest since
Boston's Ted Williams hit .406 in . In,
Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett would flirt with .400, but ultimately finished at .390.
Tony Gwynn of the
San Diego Padres hit .394 in . To date, that's the closest anyone has come to hitting .400 in 500 or more at bats. For his efforts, Carew won the
American League's Most Valuable Player award. In addition, Carew and
Ty Cobb are the only players to lead both leagues in hitting in three consecutive seasons. Carew achieved it in,, and .
Rod Carew also
stole home 17 times in his career.
Originally a
second baseman, Carew moved to
first base in to lengthen his career. Frustrated by the Twins' inability to keep young talent as well as
racist comments made by team owner
Calvin Griffith (External Link
) Carew announced his intention to leave the team in . However, he was instead traded to the then-
California Angels for
outfielder Ken Landreaux,
catcher/
first baseman Dave Engle, right-handed
pitcher Paul Hartzell, and left-handed
pitcher Brad Havens.
On
August 4,, Carew joined an elite group of ballplayers when he got his
3,000the 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 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,, 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'd previously agreed to abide by. Rod Carew was awarded damages equivalent to what he'd have likely received in :
$782,036.
(External Link)
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, his first year of eligibility. He was the 22nd player so elected. In, 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
1960's, 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 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 falsehood in later incarnations of the song.
Adding to the confusion is an article written in
Esquire magazine in .
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.
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".
(External Link) In, 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, . 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 couldn't 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, Rod Carew became the spokesperson for the Solid Contact Baseball company
(External Link), 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 and was a regular user up to, 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.
(External Link) 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 .
(External Link)Further Information
Get more info on 'Rod Carew'.
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