When Rod Carew retired in 1985, following twelve seasons with the Minnesota Twins and seven with the California Angels, he had amassed seven batting titles, more than three thousand hits, and eighteen All-Star selections and was considered one of the best pure hitters to ever play the game. While his baseball career is well documented—Rookie of the Year in 1967 and a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection in 1991—this compelling chronicle of Carew’s life extends far beyond the baseball diamond. Carew is the candid autobiography of a baseball legend—from his years growing up in a segregated barrio in Panama to his move to Harlem at the age of fourteen, from the sandlots of the Bronx to the highest ranks of major league stardom. Working with noted New York Times sportswriter Ira Berkow, Carew writes memorably of his baseball career and his philosophy and approach to hitting—including his historic quest as a Minnesota Twin in 1977 for the first .400 season since 1941—but he also deals frankly with his early poverty, an unhappy relationship with an abusive father, and the racial discrimination that became more pronounced due to fame and an interracial marriage. First published in 1979, this new edition has a foreword by All-Star center fielder Torii Hunter and a new afterword by Carew covering the end of his baseball career and his post-baseball life—notably his induction into the Hall of Fame, his years as a hitting instructor, and the tragic loss of his daughter Michelle to leukemia. Carew is a forthright and fascinating account, revealing the public and private stories that illuminate one of baseball’s greatest and most respected players.
