Hello everyone!
Today
on the blog we have a "missing" 1971 "Baseball's Greatest Moments" card
for Rod Carew, who was missing from one of my all-time favorite card
sets, the uber-expensive Topps set of the same name:
On
July 16th of 1969, the young Minnesota Twins second baseman tied
Brooklyn Dodger Pete Reiser's MLB record with his seventh steal of home.
With
the bases loaded against the Chicago White Sox Jerry Nyman, Carew took
off from third base and successfully stole home, helping the Twins sweep
a double-header and march to a first-ever "American League West" title
in the first year of the new divisional format.
Now,
while this WAS marked as a record, since then new research has
uncovered that the great Ty Cobb actually stole home EIGHT times back in
1912.
But
I thought it'd be fun to highlight stealing home for Carew instead of
the "usual" hitting machine that he became over his incredible career.
He would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.
The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as an All-Star first baseman.
The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on
his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s
attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???
3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.
The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!