ROD CAREW
Game 174 | July 11, 1969 | Rod Carew
Named for Dr. Rodney Cline, the man who delivered him on a train in Panama, Rodney Cline Carew had a breakout season in 1969. Responding well to the tutelage of manager Billy Martin, Carew, the 1967 American League Rookie of the Year; hit .332 and stole home a record seven times. Carew went on to win seven American League batting titles and appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
Game 220 | July 12, 1973 | Eddie Bane, Rod Carew
Just weeks after being the Twins number one draft pick, the left-handed Bane was summoned to the major leagues to face Kansas City in a July 4th game that drew a record 45,890 fans to Met Stadium. Bane pitched well, but did not figure in the decision. He went on to win only seven games in his major league career. Carew led the American League in hitting that year with a .350 batting average.
Game 262 | May 16, 1978 | Rod Carew
The 1978 baseball season had just started, but memories lingered from 1977 when Carew flirted with a .400 batting average for most of the season before finishing with a league-leading .388, tops in Twins history.
Game 265 | September 22, 1978 | Gene Mauch, Rod Carew
Carew was to finish the 1978 season with a .333 batting average. In February of 1979 he was involved in one of the biggest trades in Twins' history, going to the Angels for Ken Landreaux, Brad Havens, Paul Hartzell and Dave Engle. Under Mauch's managing the Twins finished fourth in 1978, 19 games out of first place.
Game 343 | February 2, 1987 | Rod Carew
The former Twins star got his 3,000th hit off Frank Viola while playing for the California Angels in August 1985. He retired after that season and was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991, his first year of eligibility. When he appeared at Dunkers in 1987 he had just announced plans to open the Rod Carew Baseball School in Placentia, California.
Game 627 | January 21, 2004 | Torii Hunter, Rod Carew
Hunter led the team in RBIs during the 2004 season and won his fourth consecutive Gold Glove award as the league's best-fielding center fielder. Carew, the team's Hall of Fame second baseman, once again worked with the younger players in spring training on hitting and base-running skills.
Game 827 | July 14, 2014 | Rod Carew, Jim Kaat, Jim "Mudcat" Grant
Three of the best players in the early years of the Minnesota Twins took questions and told stories on subjects ranging from the 1965 World Series, playing for Billy Martin, and how they've stayed connected with the Twins organization. Carew told of the time he stole home only to see Harmon Killebrew ready to swing at the pitch. Killebrew saw Carew at the last minute and Carew safely stole home, one of seven such steals in 1969. The next day, Carew found a sign on his locker with a drawing of a tombstone which read, "Here lies the body of Rod Carew, lined to left by Killebrew."
