Born in Panama in 1942 on a racially segregated train, Rod Carew has come a long way from a poor start in life to become one of the most highly regarded baseball players of all time. His family moved to New York City when Carew was 14 years old, and Carew was discovered by scouts while playing semi-professional baseball. Signed by the Minnesota Twins, in his rookie season of 1967 Carew hit for a .292 average and won the American League Rookie of the Year Award. One little known but interesting fact about Rod Carew was that he spent 6 years in the Marine Corps Reserves, while still playing major league baseball.
Rod Carew played for 12 seasons in Minnesota, beginning his career at second base and then switching position to first base in 1975. In his time spent with the Minnesota Twins Carew won 7 American League Batting Titles, and had an average of over .350 four times. The best season of his career came in 1977, winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award with a .388 batting average, 239 hits and 100 runs batted in. Rod Carew was traded to the California Angels in 1979 and played for seven more seasons, continued to hit over.300, but never won another batting title.
In all, Rod Carew batted over.300 15 straight seasons, a remarkable feat in itself. He finshed his baseball career with a .328 batting average, 3,053 hits, 1,015 runs batted in, 1,424 runs scored and 353 stolen bases. His 18 all-star game appearances are easily among the most ever by a player in his era.After retiring from baseball following the 1985 season, Carew’s jersey #29 was retired by both the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels. In 1991 Rod Carew was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 90.5 percent of the votes cast in his favor.
As a long time user of chewing tobacco, Rod Carew experienced a cancerous growth in his mouth after retirement, which caused considerable treatment to be undertaken in order for a positive outcome.Since retiring, Rod Carew has worked as a hitting coach and has strongly impacted the success of many players following his advice and lessons. As a businessman, Carew has prospered helping to develop commercial baseball products.
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