Unofficially, Carew Seems to Be Accepting an End to His Career

Baseball, even more than other sports, seems to feed on lore and legend. It’s almost nostalgia waiting to happen.

A few years ago, when the great Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox retired, he made one final swing through the American League, just to give fans a last glimpse of a legend.

Baseball loves its heroes. It’s a game of parades and shrines. Ruth had his day. So did Gehrig and Campanella.

Perhaps that’s why the story of Rod Carew lingers on.

Last August, playing for the Angels, Carew joined baseball’s exclusive 3,000-hit club. When he reached first base on the historic occasion, he waved to the crowd.

Not long after, he disappeared.

The 40-year-old Carew wasn’t re-signed by the Angels this season, but he didn’t figure it to be a problem. What team wouldn’t want a seven-time batting champion on its roster?

As Carew is finding out, all of them.

Today, he waits for the phone to ring.

His fans never had a chance to say goodby.

Carew’s old team, Minnesota, was the only team to show interest in spring training, but the Twins have since backed down.

And as April draws closer to May, Carew’s career draws closer to being over.

He admitted as much Saturday after the Angel game at Anaheim Stadium. He was there in connection with an NBC telecast.

Carew said he didn’t think there was a chance he’d be signed this season and that there was no way he could come back next season after a year’s layoff. But he would not go so far as to say he was officially retiring.

“I don’t have to announce my retirement,” he said. “I don’t think it’s necessary. If I’m going to fade away into the wild green pastures, then I’ll do it.”

Carew’s agent said he can’t believe that his client is unable to get a job.

“It surprises me immensely,” said Jerry Simon, who has represented Carew since 1978. “We’ve made no progress at all. He’d still like to play ball, but there’s no one making any indication that they want him on their team.”

Calls around the American League confirm Simon’s suspicion. It appears that the advent of the 24-man roster and Carew’s age and lack of versatility have chased him right out of the market.

And money isn’t even much of an issue. Carew reportedly is willing to sign for about $450,000 (plus incentives), considerably less than the $875,000 he received in each of his last two seasons with the Angels.

So is Carew really washed up?

“Obviously, he can still hit,” said Tom Grieve, president and chief operating officer of the Texas Rangers. “He’s going to the Hall of Fame; he’s one of the greatest hitters of all time. But the question is, does a team have a position that he can play?”

The answer, so far, is no.

Teams will only consider Carew as a first baseman or a designated hitter, which doesn’t leave many spots open. And the designated-hitter spot is usually reserved for a power hitter. Carew, who had three home runs and 39 runs batted in last season, will never be remembered as one of those. Some teams were interested in him as a pinch-hitter but balked when rosters throughout the league were trimmed from 25 to 24 players.

Simon said that Carew initially wanted to remain in the American League but is now open to any offer.

But as Jim Campbell, longtime president of the Detroit Tigers, said: “Sometimes you just can’t arrange the perfect sunset.”

But who’s at fault for that?

Will the Angels have to bear the responsibility for throwing Carew out of the house without even so much as a going-away party?

“It was very awkward,” Tim Mead, the Angel director of publicity, said of Carew’s departure.

Some, including Angel star Reggie Jackson, have criticized the organization for its handling of the Carew situation.

The Angels have a pretty good defense.

Three years ago, when Carew’s contract expired, he went through the free agent re-entry draft and was not claimed by a single team.

The Angels then resigned Carew for two more years at $875,000 a season.

When his contract expired at the end of the 1985 season, the Angels decided not to re-sign him, deciding to give the first-base job to a promising rookie named Wally Joyner, who recently had won the Puerto Rican winter league’s triple crown.

Mead said that had Carew announced last season that he was retiring, the Angels could have arranged a departure similar to Yastrzemski’s.

“The Angels are not going to deny Rod Carew his due,” Mead said.

The problem, Mead said, is that it’s hard to honor a player who hasn’t yet retired.

“We’d love to have a Rod Carew Day,” he said. “The man deserves it. He’s a Hall of Famer. But you can’t forcibly retire someone.”

Said Carew: “It’s all out of my hands. A lot of people have said the same thing, ‘how could they treat me that way.’ But baseball doesn’t owe me anything. I gave it 19 years. I’m bewildered and disappointed not to go out like guys like Yastrzemski, Bench, Stargell, guys who paid their dues. But I’m not looking for anything from the Angels from here on out.”

It would have been fitting and even sentimental for Carew to return to Minnesota, where he spent the first 12 years of his major league career.

But the Twins’ vice president of player personnel, Andy MacPhail, said his team ultimately decided against signing Carew. MacPhail is happy with Kent Hrbek at first and Roy Smalley as designated hitter.

“Under a certain scenario, he (Carew) could contribute something,” MacPhail said. “But that scenario changed with the 24-man roster and it diminishes even more with every passing day of the season.”

The Tigers’ Campbell was less subtle.

“The man’s getting older,” he said of Carew. “You can’t turn the clock back. We just were not interested. There comes a time for all players. I remember it happening with Al Kaline. These guys all think they can hit until they’re 60. He (Carew) is a Hall of Famer, but evidently he’s coming to the end of his career.”

Carew hit only .280 last season, his lowest average since batting .273 in 1968. But Simon thinks Carew has plenty to offer, if only for sentimental reasons.

“It’s a question of judgment,” the agent said. “Someone could make money with Rod. He can draw fans. He could have had one of his best years. And even if he didn’t play to his standards, he could still draw big crowds with appreciation days.”