Rod Carew (born 1945) is best remembered as a first and second baseman for MLB from 1967 to 1985. He played for the Minnesota Twins from 1967 to 1978 and the California Twins from 1979 to 1985.
He finished his career with a .328 batting average, 3,053 hits, 92 home runs, and 1,015 runs batted in. Due to these statistics, he was named to 18 All Star games, which was every year of his career except for his last in 1985. He was the AL MVP in 1977, and a seven time AL batting champion, which is the second most batting titles behind only Ty Cobb.
Carew was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility with 90.5% of the vote. Additionally, the Minnesota Twins and the Los Angeles Angels retired his no. 29 jersey and inducted him into their respective Halls of Fame.
Born in Gatun of the Panama Canal Zone, Carew is a “Zonian.” His mother unexpectedly gave birth to him on a racially segregated train, and she named her son after Rodney Cline, a physician who happened to be on the train and helped Carew’s mother.
Carew grew up in a troubled home. His father was a violent alcoholic, and Carew later stated in his biography that baseball saved him. Carew wrote that he actually came close to killing his father, and his mother encouraged him to go play baseball to get away from his father and cool off.
Carew’s mother fled to the United States in search of a better life for herself and her children. In America Carew rediscovered baseball, and he joined the semipro team, the Bronx Cavaliers, where he was discovered by a Minnesota Twins scout.
A tryout was arranged for April of 1964, and the Twins manager, Sam Mele, ended the tryout early so that nobody else from another team
could see him. Carew was signed to a monthly salary of $400, and he left for Florida to start his minor league career.
By the spring of 1967, Carew was brought on as a consistent starter. He was named to the All Start game, and he received 19 of 20 first place votes for AL Rookie of the Year.
Carew was a consistent producer. In 1969 Carew stole home seven times, one shy of Ty Cobb’s record of eight. Carew joined Cobb in 1975 as the second player to win the AL batting title three times or more in a row (Ty Cobb won 12 in 13 years).
His 1977 season was probably his best. Carew batted .388 which was the best since Ted Williams 1957 season. He had 239 hits (the most since 1930), 100 RBIs, and 128 runs scored. Finally, he was named the AL MVP.
Carew left the Twins in 1979 for a variety of reasons, and the Twins received seriously big trade offers for Carew.
Carew went to the Angels, and his career largely declined. He stayed competitive, in which he batted over .300 and made All Star games until his retirement, but his dominance was over.
Carew made baseball history on August 4, 1985 with his 3,000th hit.
1985 was his last season. The Angels declined to renew, and no team made an offer. Carew called foul, and he accused the league of collusion. A decade later, an arbitrator ruled in favor of Carew, and he was awarded nearly one million dollars.
However, Carew was forced into retirement. He stayed involved with baseball, and he served in multiple roles in different leagues. Carew was credited for his coaching of Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, and Jim Edmonds who showed noticeable improvement for their hitting.
Carew has continued to participate in various MLB ceremonies, and in 2016 he was awarded the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award.
There are several great cards that cover Carew. His best cards are from the Topps sets that cover his early days in the 60s, and this article will go over the best cards.
1967 Topps Rod Carew Rookie Card
Rod Carew’s rookie card sits at #569 in the 1967 Topps, which has 609 cards in total of standard measurements (2 ½” x 3 ½”), In addition to Carew’s rookie card, keys to the set include Tom Seaver.
As with all of the Topps sets that Carew is on, this set is well preserved. For reference, PSA has over 250,000 cards registered. Nearly 3,000 of those cards are Carew copies.
Gem Mint copies are very expensive, and a Gem Mint sold for $186,000 in 2021. Mint copies were selling for five or six thousand for a few years, but the most recent sale of a Mint copy was for $26,400 in March of 2021, which may suggest a significant rise in Carew’s value, or it could simply be an outlier.
During 2020, a budget of $1,000 would have guaranteed you a PSA 7, but as time wears on these cards are only seeming to grow in value.
1968 Topps Rod Carew
There are 598 cards in the 1968 Topps, and Carew is at #80. Each card is of standard size. Key rookies include Nolan Ryan and Johnny Bench.
There are over 300,000 cards from this set registered with PSA, and over 2,300 of those cards are Carew copies.
The sophomore release of a Carew card takes a steep drop off, as expected. Gem Mint copies were selling for over $3,000, but there are few recent sales. Mint copies have jumped up to $1,500 during the pandemic.
1969 Topps Rod Carew
Carew’s base card sits at #510 in this set of 664 cards of standard size. Major rookies include Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, and Bobby Bonds.
There are over 270,000 cards registered with PSA from this set. Over 1,800 cards are Carew copies.
Carew’s card remains valued, but the price will continue to generally go down as you move along in his career. A budget of $1,000 should secure you a Mint copy of this card.
1970 Topps Rod Carew
Carew is on a few cards in this set, but his base card is at #290, which is his best card on the set. There are 720 cards of standard size in the set.
PSA has over 1,700 Carew copies registered out of over 220,000 for the entire set.
PSA 8’s will sell for about $100, and PSA 9’s can be grabbed on a budget of $1,000 easily.
Conclusion
Rod Carew is an all time great, and as a member of the elite 3,000 hits club, Carew is one of the finest hitters to ever play baseball. Luckily for collectors, there are almost twenty seasons of great Carew cards, and this article went over the details on some of the best.