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Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945 in Gatun,
Panama) was a Major League Baseball player for the
Minnesota Twins and California Angels in the 1970s
and 1980s. In addition to being the only major
leaguer to ever be born in a train, he was one of
the most prolific hitters of his generation.

An immigrant to New York City at the age of 17,
Carew was an All-Star in all but his final 1985
season and the American League Rookie of the Year
in 1967. In 1972, amazingly enough, Carew led the
American League in batting, without hitting a
single home run. He won seven batting titles,
including his best overall season, 1977 in which
his .388 batting average was the highest in
baseball since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
Though it by far was the closest anyone other than
Williams had come to hitting .400 or more since
the actual 1941 feat, it did not get the media
attention that George Brett's attempt did 3 years
later because unlike Brett's run he was "only"
hitting about .350 or so most of the season until
he hit a "hot streak" in September and his
average started inching towards .400 during the
last two weeks of the season. He also won the
AL's Most Valuable Player award that year. In
addition, he is one of only two players (the other
being Ty Cobb) to lead Major League Baseball in
batting average in three consecutive years, doing
so from 1973 through 1975.

Originally a second baseman, Carew moved to first
base in 1975 to lengthen his career. Frustrated by
the Twins' inability to keep its young stars,
Carew announced his intention to leave the team in
1979. He was then traded to the Angels for four
players.

Sometimes a target of racism, Carew received death
threats when he announced his intention to marry a
white Jewish woman. Many sources have long claimed
that he converted to Judaism when he married his
wife and in this sense he is sometimes compared to
Sammy Davis Jr. as a famous "Jewish convert of
color"; however, this is incorrect. He has never
undergone a formal conversion ceremony nor
publicly identified himself as an adherent of
Judaism, however, his children were raised Jewish
and it is assumed that as such he partakes in some
Jewish activities such as lighting Chanukah
candles or organizing Passover seders with his
family. Nonetheless, the story about him
converting to Judaism is an urban myth. He is
named in one of Adam Sandler's Hannukah Songs as
"Hall of Famer Rod Carew!"

Carew was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in
1991, his first year of eligibility. He was the
22nd player so elected.

When Carew's 18-year-old daughter, Michelle, fell
victim to leukemia, Carew made national headlines
again. Her Panamanian-Jewish ethnic mix lowered
the likelihood of finding a suitable donor for a
bone marrow transplant; in spite of Carew's
national pleas, she died in April 1996 before a
donor could be located.

Following his retirement, Carew has worked as a
hitting coach, including for the Angels and for
the Milwaukee Brewers.

On January 19th, 2004, Panama City, Panama's
National Stadium was renamed Rod Carew Stadium.[1]