Rod Carew - Wikipedia

Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that October 1 is the anniversary of the birth of USMC Reserve veteran, Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman, second baseman and coach of Panamanian descent Rodney Cline Carew who "played from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels and was elected to the All-Star game every season except his last."
"On Dec 16, 2016 Rod received a heart and kidney transplant. The donor was 29 year old former NFL player Konrad Reuland."
Happy 74th birthday and your donated heart continue to function well for many more years.

1985 Rod Carew 3000 Rare Minnesota Twins Broadcast Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMx3iAkcXQQ

Images:
1. 1967 Topps Rookie card #580- Rod Carew 2nd Base Twins; and Hank Allen Outfield Senators.
2. Rodney Cline Carew hand signed photo card
3. 2016 The Carew family (Rod with wife Rhonda, Cheyenne and Devon) and their close friends, Tony and Gordette Oliva, following the on-field ceremony.
4. Rod Carew 2016.

Biography
1. rodcarew.com
2. newsarchive.heart.org/mlb-names-major-award-after-heart-of-29-inspiration-rod-carew

1. Background from rodcarew.com/biography/
"ROD CAREW’S BIOGRAPHY
Rodney Cline Carew was born on a train in Gatun, Panama on October 1, 1945. He moved with his family to New York when he was fourteen years old, and signed with the Minnesota Twins on the day he graduated from high school.

Rod Carew is one of the most talented players to ever don a major league uniform. During his illustrious nineteen-year career he was selected to eighteen All-Star teams. He is the all-time All-Star vote leader with thirty-three million votes – six million more than the runner-up. His career statistics explain why on January 8, 1991, he became only the 22nd player in history to be voted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

Rod had a lifetime batting average of .328 and averaged better than .300 for 15 consecutive seasons. He averaged .344 for the decade of the seventies.

In his twelve seasons with the Minnesota Twins, and seven with the California Angels, Rod amassed 3,053 career hits, twelfth on the all-time list at the time of his retirement. He won seven batting titles, a figure surpassed only by Ty Cobb, Tony Gwynn and Honus Wagner. Rod and Willie Mays are the only players in baseball history to be Rookie of the Year (1967), Most Valuable Player (1977), have 3,000 hits (1985) and be voted into the Hall of Fame (1991). He was also named the Roberto Clemente Award winner (1977) by Major League Baseball as the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship and community involvement. He was only the third person to have his uniform (#29) retired by two teams. A more complete list of his incredible career achievements are listed on the attached pages.

Upon retiring in 1986, Rod decided he would devote his time to working with children. He realized a life long dream in the spring of 1987 when The Rod Carew Baseball School opened in Placentia, California.

The 7,400 square foot state-of-the-art hitting laboratory was a tremendous success from the day its doors opened. The Rod Carew Baseball School became a valuable resource to major league teams as numerous players, managers and hitting instructors turned to Rod and his methods. When he felt the urge to return to the major leagues, Rod signed with the California Angels in 1992 as their major league hitting instructor.

His impact on the Angels was indisputable as the team batting average rose more than thirty points during Rod’s tenure with the club. In November 1999, Rod was named Major League Hitting Instructor for the Milwaukee Brewers, a position he held until he resigned in October 2001.

When he’s not preaching his art and science, Rod spends a lot of his free time in pursuit of funds to be used in the fight to find a cure for pediatric cancers. In one memorable and emotional appeal by Rod to a joint session of Congress in the fall of 1998, $50,000,000 was appropriated to the National Institutes of Health for pediatric cancer research. In the past ten years, the Rod Carew Children’s Cancer Golf Classic has also raised more than four million dollars in this fight.

In addition to his Hall of Fame honors, Rod received the 1991 Muscular Dystrophy Association Life Time Achievement Award in recognition of his accomplishments on and off the field. Past winners include Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky and Magic Johnson. Rod was also honored by General Mills in 1991 when he became one of the select few to ever be featured on a Wheaties box. That year Rod was also named Captain of the American League All-Star team. In August 2002, Rod was inducted into the United States Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame, as he served in the Marine Reserves in the late sixties.

Today, in addition to his charitable works, Rod is still actively involved in baseball.

He is currently in his 16th season on the executive staff of the Minnesota Twins and his 10th with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In the summer of 2016 the award for the MLB American League Batting Champion was named the Rod Carew Award.

In September 2015 Rod suffered a massive heart attack. He had an LVAD (left ventricular assist devise) implanted into his heart.

On Dec 16, 2016 Rod received a heart and kidney transplant. The donor was 29 year old former NFL player Konrad Reuland. He continues to do what he knows and loves best. He imparts his knowledge of baseball to amateurs and professional players alike. Rod and his wife Rhonda also lead the fight for heart health awareness through a campaign with the American Heart Association.

Rod Carew is a dedicated family man and successful businessman who continues to be a role model for all young people. During his career he was respected not only as a great talent, but as a class act in and out of uniform. He currently resides in Coto de Caza, California


On January 8, 1991, became only 22nd player in history to be voted into the Baseball Hall Fame on the first ballot
3,053 career hits – 12th all-time* (#3,000-8/4/85 vs. Frank Viola-Twins)
Won 7 Batting Titles – surpassed only by Cobb (12), Wagner (8) and Gwynn (8)
.328 Lifetime B.A. – 27th all-time*
Batted .344 during decade of 70’s
Batted .350 or more 5 times
1977 AL – M.V.P.
1967 AL – Rookie of the Year
Batted .300 or more 15 consecutive seasons – 1969-83
Twins all-time leading hitter – .334 – 12 seasons
Angels all-time leading hitter – .314 – 7 seasons
Voted to AL All-Star Team 18 times – 1967-84
✰ Named Honorary Captain AL All-Star Team - 1991
✰ All-time leading All-Star vote getter: 33,000,000+
✰ Holds All-Star record - Most triples in a game - 1978
✰ Only AL player to have his number (29) retired by 2 teams (Twins & Angels)
✰ 1015 career R.B.I.
✰ Career on base % - .395
✰ Holds major league single season record for most steals of home (7 - 1969 tied with Pete Reiser)
✰ Named MLB All-Century Team
✰ Holds Major League record for most steals in one inning (3 - May 18, 1969)
✰ 353 Career Stolen Bases
✰ 895 Multiple hit games career
✰ Played in ALCS - 4 times (1969, 1970, 1979, 1982)
✰ Holds ALCS record - most hits in 4 game series (7-1979)
✰ Born October 1, 1945. Gatun, Panama"

2. Background form newsarchive.heart.org/mlb-names-major-award-after-heart-of-29-inspiration-rod-carew/
MLB names major award after Heart of 29 inspiration Rod Carew
By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS
SAN DIEGO – Long before Rod Carew started the Heart of 29 campaign with the American Heart Association, he distinguished himself as one of the best hitters in baseball history by winning seven American League batting titles, the most by any player since 1920.

Major League Baseball decided it was time to honor that in a big way. So just before the first pitch of its annual All-Star Game on Tuesday, the league held a surprise ceremony to announce that, from now on, the top hitter in the AL each season will receive the “Rod Carew American League Batting Champion Award.”

Fans gave a standing ovation as Carew, his wife Rhonda and their kids Devon and Cheyenne walked onto the field. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred greeted Carew in front of a prototype of the statue and said, “This is really well-deserved.”

Carew waved appreciatively to the crowd, but hardly smiled. He was overcome by two powerful emotions: sadness that his friend Tony Gwynn, who died of cancer in 2014, couldn’t be there to accept the NL honor being named for him, and humbled by his own mortality.

“He knows how close it was for neither of them being here,” Rhonda Carew said.

Carew suffered a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest last Sept. 20. Brought back from the brink of death, he stabilized for a few days then went into extreme heart failure. The left side of his heart could no longer efficiently pump blood to the rest of his body, so doctors implanted a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, to help regulate blood flow. While the machine could keep him alive for years, he is hoping to get a heart transplant. It could happen later this summer, before the first Rod Carew Award is even decided.

Carew’s devotion to beating heart disease and boosting the word about prevention and awareness led to the creation of Heart of 29. It formally launched in January, and has been celebrated throughout spring training and in home games of the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and at the All-Star FanFest on Monday. The Boston Red Sox are hosting an event next Wednesday, followed by more events at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, during the weekend festivities surrounding the induction of the newest class of honorees.

Carew was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1991 following a 19-year career with the Twins and Angels. He retired with 3,053 hits and a .328 batting average, both near the top in baseball history. He won his seven batting titles over a span of just 10 seasons, with streaks of four in a row and six in seven years. Only Ty Cobb won more AL titles, the last coming in 1919.

At his home, Carew proudly displays the silver bats he received in recognition of those batting titles; Devon and Cheyenne laughingly recalled shining the silver as chores when they were kids. Yet the hardware didn’t come from MLB. Instead of the league formally recognizing the batting champion, the award came from Louisville Slugger, the league’s official bat-maker.

Gwynn won eight NL batting titles. His career began as Carew’s was winding down, and the two became fast friends.

Several years ago, the two posed for a photo alongside their combined 15 silver bats. Carew said proceeds from sales of that image raised more than $100,000 to support the family of one of his friends, a former photographer for the Minnesota Twins who died from cancer at 44.

“Rod is one of the most highly decorated players in American League history, who made 18 straight All-Star appearances in his Hall of Fame career,” Manfred said in a statement. “Tony is considered one of the greatest hitters in the history of the National League, and there is no better place to honor him than in San Diego. Major League Baseball is pleased to recognize their extraordinary careers by naming our batting crowns in their honor.”

COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SGT (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord

Thanks for the post.

Great ball player and a threat to get on base.