This might be the comments, didn't read all of them -- but one of my favorite stats about him was that he stole home 7 times in one season (1969) -- 14 times in his career according to https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_stbah.shtml
Thanks Joe for the Rod Carew story. He also was a very kind man. I got to know him as an usher working next to Twins dugout. He gave me a bat and pair of his shoes once. Ray Crump equipment mgr was not happy. Calvin Griffith was rather frugal. LOL. One of his habits was to never put his helmet on in on deck circle when there were 2 outs. Don’t know why. He also chewed tobacco with 2 pieces of Wrigleys gum wrapped around it. He was hard on a lot pitchers. Ed Figueroa turned him into Babe Ruth. He had Popeyes forearms!
"He hit .388 that year and he might have hit .400 had he been wiling to take more pitches and draw more walks. “But then,” he said as that season ended, “that wouldn’t be my style, wouldn’t be Rod Carew. I do like to swing the bat.”"
I found this a surprising comment. Partly because Carew didn't actually walk all that sparingly: 1018 in his career, which is T-113th all-time. Looking at the hitters around him on that list, he doesn't stand out as having a particularly high number of plate appearances to get there, either. He's no Ted Williams, but he had far more than Tony Gwynn, for a common comparison. And in 1977 itself, he had 69, which was 19th in the league. Even if you remove his intentional walks, he would have been tied for T-40th, a bit higher if you did the same for everyone else.
But the main thing that surprised me here was the idea that taking more pitches would have led to a higher batting average. Isn't the reverse generally thought to be true? Namely, if a hitter starts being more patient, both his walks AND his strikeouts will go up? The more pitches you take, the more deep counts you see, and deep counts increase strike outs. The only data I can find (from the AL, 2015-17) says that hitters hit .211/.450/.363 with a full count, compared to .256/321/.421 overall. It's actually a higher OPS with a full count, but because of walks, not batting average. And if we remove strikeouts from these totals, hitters hit .334 with a full count and .332 overall, so strike outs are essentially the only difference here.
Furthermore, I've always had the impression that hitters with super-high batting averages tended to have both relatively low walk and strikeout rates, and swing earlier in the count. Is this wrong? Certainly, there are exceptions (Williams, Bonds). Am I correct that the convention wisdom (and perhaps the truth) is that high average hitters swing relatively early in the count? Not in the sense of swinging at bad pitches as much as swinging at the first good pitch, rather than waiting for the very best pitch. Interested in hearing agree/disagree.
Ok. I think we can throw out ‘back in Dead Ball era when baseball was very, very different.’ Nothing is more different than the DH, than ‘man on 2nd to start 10th’, height of the mound, # games played, etc.
Well there were other things back in the real old days that were different. Back when pitchers threw underhanded and tried to fulfill the batters request for a higher ball, lower, etc. 8 or 9 balls before a walk, a pitching box rather than a mound, a shorter distance between pitcher and the plate 45 feet. Heck for 13 years there was no such thing as a strike- the whole intent of the game was to have the ball put in play. The game now is primarily a duel between the pitcher and batter, with fielders as backup. Back then it was totally between fielders and the batter. With he fielders either having no gloves or a very poor imitation of our modern gloves. Basically there’s been a stream of evolution in the game- sometimes steady, but often in fits and jerks.
Love any story about Rod Carew. If you have never watched the story that Steve Hartman of CBS News did about Rod Carew's heart transplant, find it and watch it.
There was a great radio spot on Carew's heart transplant and the close bond with the donor's family at https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/09/28/rod-carew-konrad-reuland-heart-assists . It turns out the donor was Konrad Reuland, a former college and (briefly) NFL player who idolized Carew growing up. Reuland died of a brain aneurism at age 29.
Yes, that’s the story Steve Hartman tells. The heart of the story is when Rod Carew invites Konrad Reuland’s mom to listen to her son’s heart beating in his chest. https://youtu.be/gRVeZZky7Z8
1972 was a strike shorten year and Rod only played 142 games, scoring only 62 runs, which also seems like a record for a batting champ. For a sneaky great year, look at Dick Allen's 1972 year.
It's unique in the Live Ball era. There are two others altogether:
Wee Willie Hit 'Em Where They Ain't Keeler did it in 1897, hitting .424. He hit 19 triples; you'd think he might've turned at least one into an inside-the-park homer at a time when they more common. He nearly did it again the next year when he hit .385 with 1 HR.
Zack Wheat did it in 1918 for the Brooklyn Robins. He played in 105 out of a possible 126 games on account of injuries and WWI. Since men had to either take war-related jobs by a certain cutoff or get drafted, the season was shortened (thanks, by the way, for the question, which turned out to be a fun narrative rabbit hole). The year was an outlier for him; he was known as a "slugger" by the standards of that era and otherwise was routinely among the top 10 in homers. He started putting up double-digit HR totals with some regularity after the 1920 rule changes.
Notably, neither Wheat nor Carew came particularly close to leading the majors overall, and the AL was still a few years away when Keeler did it.
Not sure about that but one year Ty Cobb led the league in homers with 10- and every one was an inside the park home run. That was a very different game back then.
This comment got me thinking: “you know, back in the Deadball days when baseball was very, very different.”
Has anyone done an actual video simulation of what those games were like? I’m basically imagining watching something like a baseball video game in real time, but recreating actual games and box scores from different, pre-television eras. Does anything like that exist? If it doesn’t, Joe - can you please make that happen?
As an Angel fan at the time, and maybe this isn't fair, but Carew wasn't really a fan favorite. The team imported a lot of high priced talent as they were leaving their prime, and Carew was definitely in that vein. To be fair, these acquisitions did make the Angels competitive, but they also underachieved. During Carew's time with the Angels, OPS+ was 122. He hit 23 HRs over 8 years. His stolen base success percentage was around 60%. And again, to be fair, that's good production for someone who's no longer in their prime. But really Carew had all of his big seasons with the Twins.
I forgot to mention the thing that really drove us crazy about Carew. He played at least 130 games only twice over those 7 years (not 8 as I said above). He was always hurt. Always out of the lineup. Again, to be fair, that's probably what one should expect for an older player. But when someone signs a big contract (for the time), the fan expectation is that they're going to play more than an average of 120 games.
I had the good fortune growing up to see countless hits by Rodney in the Erector Set that was Met Stadium, not to mention a couple steals of home. I still feel lucky to have grown up with the Killebrew/Olivia/Carew triumvirate. While I mourned his leaving to the West coast, I grew to admire his giving the reviled cheapskate Calvin Griffith the middle finger he so richly deserved. I’m grateful that he is back as an ambassador and guru with the Twins. Happy birthday and good health, Sir Rodney!
This might be the comments, didn't read all of them -- but one of my favorite stats about him was that he stole home 7 times in one season (1969) -- 14 times in his career according to https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_stbah.shtml
Brilliant
Thanks Joe for the Rod Carew story. He also was a very kind man. I got to know him as an usher working next to Twins dugout. He gave me a bat and pair of his shoes once. Ray Crump equipment mgr was not happy. Calvin Griffith was rather frugal. LOL. One of his habits was to never put his helmet on in on deck circle when there were 2 outs. Don’t know why. He also chewed tobacco with 2 pieces of Wrigleys gum wrapped around it. He was hard on a lot pitchers. Ed Figueroa turned him into Babe Ruth. He had Popeyes forearms!
"He hit .388 that year and he might have hit .400 had he been wiling to take more pitches and draw more walks. “But then,” he said as that season ended, “that wouldn’t be my style, wouldn’t be Rod Carew. I do like to swing the bat.”"
I found this a surprising comment. Partly because Carew didn't actually walk all that sparingly: 1018 in his career, which is T-113th all-time. Looking at the hitters around him on that list, he doesn't stand out as having a particularly high number of plate appearances to get there, either. He's no Ted Williams, but he had far more than Tony Gwynn, for a common comparison. And in 1977 itself, he had 69, which was 19th in the league. Even if you remove his intentional walks, he would have been tied for T-40th, a bit higher if you did the same for everyone else.
But the main thing that surprised me here was the idea that taking more pitches would have led to a higher batting average. Isn't the reverse generally thought to be true? Namely, if a hitter starts being more patient, both his walks AND his strikeouts will go up? The more pitches you take, the more deep counts you see, and deep counts increase strike outs. The only data I can find (from the AL, 2015-17) says that hitters hit .211/.450/.363 with a full count, compared to .256/321/.421 overall. It's actually a higher OPS with a full count, but because of walks, not batting average. And if we remove strikeouts from these totals, hitters hit .334 with a full count and .332 overall, so strike outs are essentially the only difference here.
Furthermore, I've always had the impression that hitters with super-high batting averages tended to have both relatively low walk and strikeout rates, and swing earlier in the count. Is this wrong? Certainly, there are exceptions (Williams, Bonds). Am I correct that the convention wisdom (and perhaps the truth) is that high average hitters swing relatively early in the count? Not in the sense of swinging at bad pitches as much as swinging at the first good pitch, rather than waiting for the very best pitch. Interested in hearing agree/disagree.
Ok. I think we can throw out ‘back in Dead Ball era when baseball was very, very different.’ Nothing is more different than the DH, than ‘man on 2nd to start 10th’, height of the mound, # games played, etc.
Well there were other things back in the real old days that were different. Back when pitchers threw underhanded and tried to fulfill the batters request for a higher ball, lower, etc. 8 or 9 balls before a walk, a pitching box rather than a mound, a shorter distance between pitcher and the plate 45 feet. Heck for 13 years there was no such thing as a strike- the whole intent of the game was to have the ball put in play. The game now is primarily a duel between the pitcher and batter, with fielders as backup. Back then it was totally between fielders and the batter. With he fielders either having no gloves or a very poor imitation of our modern gloves. Basically there’s been a stream of evolution in the game- sometimes steady, but often in fits and jerks.
A player who did a lot without hitting home runs was Wade Boggs. His 1988 stats: just 5 HR, but .366, 45 2B, 6 3B, and 125 BB. .965 OPS.
Love any story about Rod Carew. If you have never watched the story that Steve Hartman of CBS News did about Rod Carew's heart transplant, find it and watch it.
There was a great radio spot on Carew's heart transplant and the close bond with the donor's family at https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/09/28/rod-carew-konrad-reuland-heart-assists . It turns out the donor was Konrad Reuland, a former college and (briefly) NFL player who idolized Carew growing up. Reuland died of a brain aneurism at age 29.
Yes, that’s the story Steve Hartman tells. The heart of the story is when Rod Carew invites Konrad Reuland’s mom to listen to her son’s heart beating in his chest. https://youtu.be/gRVeZZky7Z8
Nothing more fun than building a strat league of just ten teams and having that guys card
I was in a Strat-O-Matic league. I had Rod Carew..... For some reason, he hit only around .250 for me.
Alas it happens sometimes too
Great bunter too.
Speaking of home runs, in 1972 Rodney won the batting title without hitting a single one. Is that also a unique accomplishment?
1972 was a strike shorten year and Rod only played 142 games, scoring only 62 runs, which also seems like a record for a batting champ. For a sneaky great year, look at Dick Allen's 1972 year.
It was indeed. Dick got 21 out of 24 first place MVP votes, the other 3 scattered between Rudi, Lyle and Lolich.
It's unique in the Live Ball era. There are two others altogether:
Wee Willie Hit 'Em Where They Ain't Keeler did it in 1897, hitting .424. He hit 19 triples; you'd think he might've turned at least one into an inside-the-park homer at a time when they more common. He nearly did it again the next year when he hit .385 with 1 HR.
Zack Wheat did it in 1918 for the Brooklyn Robins. He played in 105 out of a possible 126 games on account of injuries and WWI. Since men had to either take war-related jobs by a certain cutoff or get drafted, the season was shortened (thanks, by the way, for the question, which turned out to be a fun narrative rabbit hole). The year was an outlier for him; he was known as a "slugger" by the standards of that era and otherwise was routinely among the top 10 in homers. He started putting up double-digit HR totals with some regularity after the 1920 rule changes.
Notably, neither Wheat nor Carew came particularly close to leading the majors overall, and the AL was still a few years away when Keeler did it.
Thanks, Justin. Good stuff!
Not sure about that but one year Ty Cobb led the league in homers with 10- and every one was an inside the park home run. That was a very different game back then.
This comment got me thinking: “you know, back in the Deadball days when baseball was very, very different.”
Has anyone done an actual video simulation of what those games were like? I’m basically imagining watching something like a baseball video game in real time, but recreating actual games and box scores from different, pre-television eras. Does anything like that exist? If it doesn’t, Joe - can you please make that happen?
There are actually folks who produce such games live. I've seen them on Mackinac Island a couple of times.
As Alan Bannister said, Rod Carew is the only player who could go 4 for 3
And he was in this Beastie Boys tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhqyZeUlE8U
Shouldn’t the pic be in a Twins uni, especially as an ode to that magical 77 season?
As an Angel fan at the time, and maybe this isn't fair, but Carew wasn't really a fan favorite. The team imported a lot of high priced talent as they were leaving their prime, and Carew was definitely in that vein. To be fair, these acquisitions did make the Angels competitive, but they also underachieved. During Carew's time with the Angels, OPS+ was 122. He hit 23 HRs over 8 years. His stolen base success percentage was around 60%. And again, to be fair, that's good production for someone who's no longer in their prime. But really Carew had all of his big seasons with the Twins.
I forgot to mention the thing that really drove us crazy about Carew. He played at least 130 games only twice over those 7 years (not 8 as I said above). He was always hurt. Always out of the lineup. Again, to be fair, that's probably what one should expect for an older player. But when someone signs a big contract (for the time), the fan expectation is that they're going to play more than an average of 120 games.
I had the good fortune growing up to see countless hits by Rodney in the Erector Set that was Met Stadium, not to mention a couple steals of home. I still feel lucky to have grown up with the Killebrew/Olivia/Carew triumvirate. While I mourned his leaving to the West coast, I grew to admire his giving the reviled cheapskate Calvin Griffith the middle finger he so richly deserved. I’m grateful that he is back as an ambassador and guru with the Twins. Happy birthday and good health, Sir Rodney!