Lost Ballparks

Best of Lost Ballparks: Rod Carew (HOF 1991)

• Mike Koser • Season 1 • Episode 5

Share episode

Originally recorded in 2022.

We’re curating the most downloaded episodes for new listeners discovering Lost Ballparks. If you’re a longtime listener, thank you for being part of this incredible community!

Rod Carew was a lifetime .328 hitter. He finished his 19 year career with 3,053 hits, was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1967, an 18X All-Star - all as a starter, all in a row,  won an AL MVP trophy in 1977, was a 7x batting champion (only Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner had more) and was a first ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame and he is our guest on the Lost Ballparks Podcast! 

Send us a text

Mike Koser:

I'm Mike Koser, and this is Lost Ball parks, a podcast that takes you on a journey to the golden age of baseball's lost ballparks.

Podcast Open:

Podcast open.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to episode five of the Lost Ballparks Podcast. So there were a few baseball cards growing up that in my collection meant more to me than any other. One of them was Rod Carew. Rod Carew was a lifetime .328 hitter. He finished his 19-year career with 3,053 hits, was AL Rookie of the Year, an 18-time All-Star, an AL MVP trophy that he collected in 1977, seven-time batting champion, only Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner had more, and a first ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rod Carew is our guest today on Lost Ball Parks.

Rod Carew:

Hi, Mike.

Mike Koser:

Rod Carew, how are you?

Rod Carew:

I'm good. I am good. I'm just enjoying life right now.

Speaker 1:

I grew up watching you play. Was at Tinker Field when you were with the Orlando Twins. And it was one of my first games, so this is like a full circle moment for me, and I'm just thrilled to be able to talk to you today.

Rod Carew:

Wow, thank you.

Mike Koser:

In your book, One Tough Out, which is a great read, by the way, and it's available at Amazon.com. You talk about growing up in Panama. You and your buddies would use broomsticks to hit bottle caps with, and you would customize your broomstick with players' names. What player did you have on your bat?

Rod Carew:

Yeah, so I had Jackie Robinson on one, and um Ted Williams on one, and Roy Campanella on the other one.

Mike Koser:

You would listen to World Series games in Panama on Armed Forces Radio, correct?

Rod Carew:

Right, yeah.

Annoucer:

This is the American Forces Network. Another bright, brilliant fall afternoon here in Yankee Stadium with the temperature in the high 60s, the sun shining brightly.

Mike Koser:

That was your connection to Major League Baseball, right?

Rod Carew:

Yeah. The thing that I wondered about was when the guys would come on and say, Oh, we have 50,000 people at the game today, and I said to myself, that must be a tape they're playing to try and get me interested with the crowd noise and stuff like that. So I uh decided that when I got the opportunity to play, I'm gonna see if 50,000 people come to the ballgames. And sure enough, they do, you know. I used to concentrate... 50,000 people. I couldn't imagine that many people.

Mike Koser:

Right, because in the town you grew up in Panama, how many people, like four, three, four thousand?

Rod Carew:

Yeah, yeah, that's it.

Mike Koser:

So in your late teens, you then moved from Panama to Washington Heights in New York and would play baseball at McCombs Dam Park, which was so close to old Yankee Stadium. So as a kid, as a kid growing up in Panama, I mean, you're like I said, you're only able to listen to baseball games on the radio, and now you're in a park next to, I mean, literally in the shadow of Yankee Stadium and those great Yankee ball clubs.

Rod Carew:

I was like in awe of that place. And I never went in to watch a ball game, but I played outside of the stadium a lot.

Mike Koser:

And you're probably as a kid are thinking, oh my gosh, okay, that's where Mickey Mantle lives. You know, like that's where he Yeah that's where he plays. And at some point in the early sixties, I think you mentioned in your book that Willie Mays and the now San Francisco Giants were back in town to play the Mets at the polo grounds, and you got a chance to go. First of all, do you remember how you got to the game?

Rod Carew:

I just walked to the stadium, you know, because I wasn't living too far from it. So, you know, as a kid, you know, you you just walk.

Mike Koser:

What do you remember about the polo grounds?

Rod Carew:

I remember sitting in the bleachers. I didn't have money to pay for good seats. So I sat in the bleachers and you know, I watched Willie Mays from, you know, like right there in front of me and making these catches and and throwing, yeah, a great arm.

Mike Koser:

You're out by the clubhouse in the bleachers. And and you're literally where you would have had a perfect vantage point six years or a few years earlier when he makes that catch in the 1954 World Series against the Indians.

Rod Carew:

Yes. Yeah, I bet.

Mike Koser:

So in high school, you're playing on a sandlot team, the New York Cavaliers, and while on that team, you were discovered by a Twin's scout. In fact, the games that he watched you play, I think you went like eight for nine with a bunch of doubles, a grand slam. The scout informs you that he would like you to try out the next time the twins are in town to play the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. And I'm just wondering, because you would have been maybe 17, 18, walking into the clubhouse at Yankees at Yankee Stadium

Rod Carew:

and seeing Harmon Killebrew.

Mike Koser:

Right.

Rod Carew:

Tony Oliva

Mike Koser:

That day in the cage, you absolutely raked. I mean, you were crushing balls, but I can't imagine how nervous you must have been. Um maybe you weren't, but I would think, you know, given the surroundings and the people that you're next to.

Rod Carew:

Well, I wasn't because, you know, baseball is a, you know, that was my outlet of what I thought about playing when I was young. And so um, I was like, you know, I just went in there like I was a veteran into the batting cages and took batting practice. The guys are surprised that as a skinny little kid that I could hit the ball that far.

Mike Koser:

In fact, you're hitting the ball so hard that at one point the twins are like, get him out of the cage, because they're worried that the Yankees will sign you.

Rod Carew:

Right. I figured I must be doing something right.

Mike Koser:

Right.

Rod Carew:

You know, so they knew that I could swing the bat, so now they had to try and talk me into signing with the team.

Mike Koser:

It's amazing though. I I think about what kind of level of concentration you must have had, because here you are. Let's just, you know, go back to the early 60s. This is pre-renovation at the old Yankee Stadium when you know they had iconic freezes surrounding the ballpark. Um, you know, this place that you had only listened to on the radio, now you're standing there and you're able to zero in and just concentrate on the pitches being thrown to you and you just start crushing the ball.

Rod Carew:

Yeah. But you know what to me was like I was playing uh sandlot ball with my buddies. I wasn't in awe of uh standing at the plate and swinging a bat because I knew that I could hit.

Mike Koser:

And you'd done it your whole life.

Rod Carew:

Yeah, I've done it my whole life, ever since I was about seven years old. It came easy to me because God gave me the ability to do things that a lot of guys uh Yeah, only dream about.

Mike Koser:

Yeah.

Rod Carew:

Yeah.

Mike Koser:

The day after you graduate from high school, the twins make an offer to you, $5,000 signing bonus, $400 a month salary, and that was the beginning of one of baseball's most remarkable careers. And I imagine that you'll always have a soft spot in your heart for Baltimore's Memorial Stadium because on April 11th, 1967, the twins are playing the Orioles, and you get your first hit off Dave McNally.

Rod Carew:

Yeah. And you know, then I was nervous. You know, I was like, you know, he was one of the best pitchers in the game, and that whole staff was unreal to to hit off of.

Mike Koser:

Jim Palmer, Cuellar,

Rod Carew:

Wally Bunker.

Mike Koser:

Yeah. What do you remember about that first hit about making contact?

Rod Carew:

When I hit the ball on the ground, I knew I had a chance to beat it out because it was going up the middle, and Bellanger was playing me to hit the ball more than left field. And so when I touch that bag, I says, Okay, give me the ball. You know, I want the ball.

Mike Koser:

Do you still have the ball?

Rod Carew:

I think it's in the hall of fame.

Mike Koser:

Wow. Amazing. But by the way, as a side note, in your 20th game, just to show you how quickly you lit on fire, 20th game in the majors, you went five for five.

Rod Carew:

Yeah, I could hit. Yeah. God gave me that talent, and he said, Okay, young man, go and do a performance for me.

Mike Koser:

Well, you did. You certainly did. And when you get called up to in 67 to the twins, their home ballpark at the time is Metropolitan Stadium.

Rod Carew:

Right. You know, from the outside it looked like a great stadium, but not as polished as, say, the Yankee Stadium or Detroit, you know, which was a great park to play in.

Mike Koser:

Oh, yeah, Tiger Stadium, sure.

Rod Carew:

I got accustomed to playing there, and it became one of my favorite parks to play in.

Mike Koser:

It had some unique attributes. I mean, obviously the scoreboard in right field and the way that the left field seats were set up.

Rod Carew:

Yeah, I said, well, here we go. I'm home now. Um and I was really thinking about doing well because I didn't want to be sent down. Because back then they could take 28 players north, and then the first month they cut down to 25 limit.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, I can't imagine anybody would think Rod Carew needs more work. I mean, are you kidding?

Rod Carew:

Well, no, I did, especially fielding, because I wasn't a great fielder when I came to the big leagues. I had to learn a lot. So Billy Martin took me under his wing and taught me everything about playing second base, turning double play. You know, he he was my teacher.

Mike Koser:

Your rookie year, by the way, your teammate Harmon Killibrew hit 44 home runs, including, as you said in your book, one of the longest home runs you had ever seen. A 522-foot home run blast at Metropolitan Stadium. You were on second base at the time when it happened.

Rod Carew:

I said to myself, you gotta be kidding me. That's a long way, long way up there. You know, I was like amazed at the the power that Harmon had. Because the next day, he hit another one just over to the right of it. And that was another big blast. They didn't mark that one.

Mike Koser:

But it just the ball sounded different off his bat, especially that day.

Rod Carew:

Yeah, I wish my balls could have sounded like that.

Mike Koser:

I think plenty of them did. In July of 1967, you made your first All-Star team.

Annoucer:

There they go, the American League All-Stars take the field, and the huge capacity crowd comes alive.

Mike Koser:

The game was at Angel Stadium, and you walk into the clubhouse, and who do you see?

Rod Carew:

Palmer.

Mike Koser:

Jim Palmer, right?

Rod Carew:

I didn't look those guys in the eyes, you know. I just kind of put my head down and say, hey, it's good to meet you. Headed for my locker to put my uniform on.

Mike Koser:

But that's got to be a pretty surreal moment, right? To be with a lot of the guys that maybe you grew up watching, and..

Rod Carew:

yeah, especially when I went out on the field, and here is Hank Aaron and Willie and Mick. I'm saying to myself, you know, you've made it your playing with with the big boys now.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, they've gone from being your heroes to being your contemporaries.

Rod Carew:

Yeah. Your teammates. That was just amazing, you know. It's it's every kid's dream that wants to play the game, to be on the same field with the guys that he grew up admiring and watching every single day.

Mike Koser:

And then in 1968, you're playing in your second straight all-star game at the Astrodome in Houston, and you hear that Roberto Clemente is looking for you.

Rod Carew:

Yeah. I was standing talking to Killebrew. Uh Tony came over.

Mike Koser:

Tony Oliva.

Rod Carew:

Yeah, he says that Roberto would like to say a few words.

Mike Koser:

Wow.

Rod Carew:

And so when I went over to meet him, he said that Tony had told him that I'm going to be a superstar one day in the state, and how I could hit and I ran like a deer. And he told me that as long as you're in the big leagues, try and invite all the younger Latin players when you see them. And so I started like inviting guys over to my house for lunch and dinner and

Mike Koser:

He wanted you to pay it forward, huh?

Rod Carew:

Yeah, he he knew that these kids were gonna be coming and he might not be around long enough to take care of him. So yes, me to guide him into doing the right thing with things and stuff like that.

Mike Koser:

Well, and then a couple years into your career, you're also at an off-season event, uh, and after years of collecting his baseball cards, after uh having it his name engraved on your broomstick that you used on to hit bottle caps in Panama, you're now face to face with your childhood hero, Jackie Robinson.

Rod Carew:

Oh, that was one of the coolest experiences that I went through, you know. Um, here's a man that fought for everybody, black and white, and I'm meeting him. He was the god of baseball. He was put through so much stuff, and he responded the way that Branch Rickey wanted him to respond, you know, and it was so exciting to meet him.

Mike Koser:

That's an experience I'm sure you'll never forget.

Rod Carew:

Oh no.

Mike Koser:

Yeah. In 1969.

Annoucer:

It's a chilly but bright sunshiny day at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Mike Koser:

You, Rod Carew, are absolutely on fire. You finished the season batting .332, won your first batting title, but what really caught people's attention that year was that you single-handedly brought back one of the great plays in baseball, the straight steal of home. In fact, you finish your career with 17 steals of home, but it all began in 1969.

Rod Carew:

That was the Billy Martin era. And you know, he came to me and he says, you know, you're gonna have a great year. I'm gonna spend a lot of time with you. We're gonna continue to work at second base. And he says, There's one thing I want you to learn how to do, says I'd like you to learn how to steal home.

Mike Koser:

What did you think when he said that?

Rod Carew:

I thought it was crazy.

Mike Koser:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

You know, but then when he started saying, We'll have uh a sign and give it to the hitter so that the hitter will know that you're coming, but he also has to to answer you so that you know that the coast is clear. One time I did and Killebrew forgot that that he had answered me.

Mike Koser:

Harmon Killerbrew, yeah. Well that could have been bad if he doesn't realize that you're coming in to home and he swings. Oh man.

Rod Carew:

Yeah. So a couple guys from the National League have said, Oh, you know, I'm just being a hot dog and and stuff like that, looking for publicity. And, you know, it it really ticked me off because here I am, my coach is teaching me how to keep this in my back pocket so that when we get into extra innings or something, that we could break it out and tie a ball game or win a ball game with my steal of home.

Mike Koser:

Well, and the other thing is if you get known for that, what it does is it puts pressure on the pitcher, right? Because that's now in the back of his mind, and he may end up walking the guy or throwing a fat pitch to uh the guy who's up.

Rod Carew:

Yeah, and that happened several times. They forgot about concentrating on the hitter, and they were concentrating on me because I kept walking up and down the third baseline. And the guys loved it because they were getting a lot of fastballs to hit.

Mike Koser:

In 1977,

Mel Allen:

Minnesota's Rod Carew making a lot of baseball history with his magic bat.

Mike Koser:

You are really making a run at .400. At one point, this is crazy. When I saw the statistic, I had to look at it twice. You had 40 hits in 87 at bats. In June at Metropolitan Stadium on Rod Carew Jersey Day, you single in the second inning, bringing your average to .400, and by July, your average is .415. You finish the season batting .388 with 239 hits. Of course, you win the AL MVP that year. What an incredible year.

Rod Carew:

Yeah, you know, it it seemed like it was, you know, I was on another plane than all the guys in baseball. It seems that the ball was slowing down when it was coming up to home plate, saying, Hit me, hit me. And I'll tell you, I said, okay, I'm gonna hit you. And then I could see that the middle infielders, uh, just at the last second they would move, and sometimes I would hit the balls in their direction, and because they moved a couple steps, got me a lot of base hits doing that.

Mike Koser:

That you weren't just a great hitter, you were a precise hitter, and that you could do things that very few hitters in baseball history could do. And that brings me to this story, which is legendary. One day you're at Yankee Stadium facing Catfish Hunter, and before the game you have a conversation with then Yankee catcher Thurman Munson. Do you remember that conversation?

Rod Carew:

Yeah, I had gotten three hits the night before. So he looked at me and says, Well, you got three last night, big boy. What are you gonna get tonight? I said, I don't know, a couple more. He said, No. He said, We're gonna get you out. Catfish knows how to pitch you and we're gonna get you out tonight. I says, Nah, he doesn't know how to pitch me. I says, I know everything that he throws in in one situation. And so I says, I'll tell you what I'll do tonight. I will call the pitches, and I'll call the pitch that I'm gonna hit. Like just when he released the pitch out of his hands.

Mike Koser:

Right.

Rod Carew:

He said, Oh, come on, you're crazy, man. So I walked up the home plate. First thing he did was untie my shoelaces, throw dirt on it. I said, Hey Thurman, earlier I told you that I'm gonna show you something that's gonna blow your mind. And I said, Tonight, I'm gonna call the pitches that he throws me, and I'm gonna call the pitch that I get a base hit off of, and where it's going. Catfish... the first pitch, and I yelled out, fastball down and in just as he's releasing the pitch. And it was a fastball down and in. On the second pitch, I called slider down and in. So he goes out to the mound and tells Catfish that I just called both of the pitches.

Mike Koser:

He thinks you're peeking, he thinks you're looking back at him.

Rod Carew:

I think that because of my stance that I could see his signs. And I told him, I says, hey, I don't have to see your signs. I says, but I'm gonna tell you what. This is the one that's gonna blow your mind. He said, Oh, yeah. We'll see, I said, okay. So he squatted down behind the plate, and I says, Okay. Catfish goes into the windup and he gets ready to release, and I yelled out, fastball outer half, base hit to left field. So I got a double. And I scored, and he looked at me and says, Rod, I how did you do that, Rodney? And I says, Hey, I told you, you know, I I'm good.

Mike Koser:

Yeah.

Rod Carew:

And so the next day, I was standing by the cage, and he comes out as of the dugout and he pats me on the back. He says, Man, that was pretty good last night. That was a trick, huh? I pulled my little black book out of my pocket. I gave it to him. I says, Look through this, and all my bats that I have against Catfish. Same sequence of pitches.

Mike Koser:

Wow. You had been keeping track, so you knew what was coming.

Rod Carew:

Yeah, yeah. And that's why I told him, he says, You've got to be kidding me. He says, I'm gonna get me a little black book. I says, No, get a red one. So when you pull that out, the guys know it's danger that's gonna happen. There you go.

Mike Koser:

Oh, it's such a great story. I love that.

Rod Carew:

Thurman was a character.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, he was. So on August 4th, 1985, you're now a member of the Angels, and your former team, the Twins, are in town at Angel Stadium.

Annoucer:

The hitter extraordinaire goes after number 3,000.

Mike Koser:

In front of a crowd of 41,630, Frank Viola is pitching. And you are at the plate in the third inning.

Annoucer:

American League's most valuable player, while a member of the Minnesota Twins.

Mike Koser:

Looking for hit number 3,000.

Annoucer:

Rodney Cline Carew.

Mike Koser:

What do you remember about that day?

Rod Carew:

I said the big lefty has got me today. And you know, he he was uh Frankie was a real good pitcher.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, he was.

Rod Carew:

And lefties didn't hit that well against him because he had this wind up and hid the ball well, and that could make you jumpy. So, you know, I just fouled pitches off, took pitches, fouled pitches off, and then he got me to two strikes, and he threw me a slider down and away that I just kind of flipped out into left field.

Annoucer:

The first man there, DeCinces , Beníquez, even Gene Mauch hugging Rod Carew.

Rod Carew:

That was it.

Mike Koser:

Hit number three thousand.

Rod Carew:

Hit number three thousand.

Mike Koser:

And that had to feel good too, because as you're chasing that, right, knowing that moment is coming, that's kind of a stressful time. A little bit, right? Because you're you're maybe pressing a little bit.

Rod Carew:

Plus, I was playing against a team that I started with, and all the people back in Minnesota were gonna get a chance to see this. Right. You know, all the people that followed me during my career there, they're gonna get the treat of seeing me get my 3,000 th hit. Harmon (Killiebrew) was doing the TV announcement.

Annoucer:

What are you thinking? You were there to see number one, you're here to see number 3,000. Harmon all choked up. That's amazing, isn't it?

Rod Carew:

And so it was special, you know, it was really special.

Annoucer:

As you look at Carew getting the base hit, (3000 hit club) Honus Wagner, Yastrzemski, Eddie Collins, Willie Mays, Cap Anson, Lou Brock, Al Kaline, and Roberto Clemente, and now Rod Carew.

Mike Koser:

It was the perfect team and the perfect time to do it.

Rod Carew:

Yeah. Rod Carew, you look at these numbers, lifetime .328 hitter, 19-year career with 3,053 hits, AL Rookie of the Year, 18-time All-Star. Oh, by the way, all as a starter, all in a row. Yeah.

Mike Koser:

AL MVP trophy, seven-time batting champion, only Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner had more, and a first ballot inductee into the baseball hall of fame. And I love the fact that in 1991, when you get inducted, one of the first calls you made was to your mom, and she said what she had always said to you growing up. God is there for you.

Rod Carew:

That's what she said. She says, He's going to be in your back pocket all the time. He's going to take care of you.

Mike Koser:

What a great moment.

Rod Carew:

Sure was.

Speaker 1:

You know, you have a lot of obviously great baseball memorabilia things that are important to you. But if you got sent to an island and you could only take one piece of baseball memorabilia with you, what would it be? What's your favorite?

Rod Carew:

The Roberto Clemente Award. Because it's for helping people. And that's what that's what Roberto did. That's how he died, you know, um trying to take food and medicine back for those people that that were starving after the um hurricanes. And I learned about doing things in the community. And so I just thought that uh pay it forward, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Mike Koser:

Rod Carew, thank you so much for the time today and uh being able to revisit your incredible career, talk a little baseball, talk about some of the great old lost ballparks that you played in. Uh, it has been a great trip down memory lane for me, and I'm sure for many others.

Rod Carew:

Well, thanks, pal. For me too, you know, because I like talking about things that I've seen playing this game and the different players that um I played against that I grew up admiring and was able to be on the same field with. So yeah, this was great for me too, also.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, and listen, I will encourage folks to go to Amazon.com and if you haven't already read Rod Carew's book, "One Tough Out", you've got to read it. It's a real fascinating story, talking, you know, from the beginning of your life all the way to where you're at right now, and it is well worth the time to uh check that out at Amazon.com. Rod Carew, thank you so much.

Rod Carew:

Thank you. You know what? Before we go, I I just want to mention that Reggie gave me the name for for that book.

Mike Koser:

Reggie Jackson?

Rod Carew:

Yeah.

Mike Koser:

Oh wow. Because he was gonna write something on the forward, and then he put uh one tough out, and then I told my agent, I says hey, why don't you use this for the name of the book? And it's uh it's a great piece of Reggie's experience watching me play the game. Well, yeah, because he knew. He knew after playing with you that you were indeed one tough out.

Rod Carew:

Yeah.

Mike Koser:

Well, again, it's available on Amazon.com. Rod Carew, thank you so much for the time. I wish you and your family all the best.

Rod Carew:

Thank you, buddy. I appreciate it.

Mike Koser:

Have a great weekend.

Rod Carew:

Thank you. Good health.

Mike Koser:

You too. Again, there are moments when I'm doing this podcast where I literally have to pinch myself. I can't tell you how many cards I had of Rod Carew that I collected growing up, but having him on the podcast today uh meant a lot. Meant a lot to me. So hope you enjoyed it. If you haven't already, please take a moment and hit the subscribe button. It's free on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on. And as we mentioned last week, if you like what you're hearing, please let us know by leaving a review and rating of the podcast. I really appreciate it. Next week on Lost Ballparks, Hall of Famer and San Francisco Giants play-by-play man, Jon Miller. He's been broadcasting Major League Baseball games for nearly 50 years. For two decades, he and Joe Morgan did the ESPN Sunday Night Game of the Week. And naturally, after a career of that length, he's been to many old Lost Ballparks, including one.

Jon Miller:

They used to have uh these uh flamethrowers that they would bring out to try to dry off the dirt on the infield after the rain delay had ended.

Mike Koser:

Don't miss John Miller next week on Lost Ballparks.

Head Shot

Mike Koser

Host