Rod Carew Concentrates on the Future : Former Angel All-Star Stays Close to Game, but Not Too Close

On the ground is the soft, reddish dirt of an infield. And long, green strips of artificial turf. And all around, there are baseballs and bats and faces of famous ballplayers.

But there is no sunshine or blue sky. No clicking cameras or reporters or crowds or applause. The only sound is the low, patient voice of a man in red sweats talking to a 12-year-old boy.

“You have to concentrate,” the man says. “Look at your pivot foot.”

This is not a ballpark. It is the cool, quiet re-creation of one, inside a high-ceilinged warehouse. And, except for the man in red sweats, the famous ballplayers are just autographed photos on the wall.

The man is Rod Carew, former baseball star for the Angels and Minnesota Twins, seven-time American League batting champion, 18-time American League all-star, giving a one-on-one hitting lesson to a young student at Rod Carew’s Baseball School.

And this, his school housed in a warehouse in Placentia, is the closest that Carew has come to a ballpark in a long time.

Life has been quiet for Carew in the two years since his final season with the Angels. And that is just the way he likes it.

“I don’t miss baseball at all,” he said. “I don’t miss anything about it.”

After spending 19 years in the major leagues, in a career that started in 1967 when he was named rookie of the year and ended in 1985 with his only sub-.300 season (.285), Carew has disassociated himself with professional ball.

Instead, he is concentrating his attention on the school he opened in March, 1987, which is now booked months in advance. Carew, who wrote a book called “The Art and Science of Hitting” in 1986, gives lessons to boys and girls, young and old, from all around California and the country.

He charges $40 for a semi-private half-hour lesson (two students at once) and $80 for a private lesson, averaging 24 lessons a day. He feels he is providing a level of instruction that isn’t available in most coaching environments.

“I don’t claim to be the greatest instructor,” Carew said. “But I don’t like a lot of what I see in coaching.”

Carew has turned down offers to return to the major leagues, both as a player and a coach. Always afraid of flying, he is enjoying staying at home in Anaheim, spending time with his three daughters--Charryse, 14; Stephanie, 12, and Michelle, 10--and Marilynn, his wife of 18 years.

“I just don’t want to be involved in professional baseball,” Carew said. “I feel like I would waste my time. I think my time is more valuable working with the kids. Major league players, they get there and they stop working. They don’t look over their shoulder.”

Carew prided himself on working hard even when he was at the top of his game, taking extra batting practice even when he was hitting .325, trying different things, changing his stroke, and never falling into a serious slump.

His hard work paid off. Carew was named the American League’s most valuable player in 1977, received more all-star votes than any other player in history (more than 33,000,000), and--on Aug. 4, 1985--became only the 16th player in history to get 3,000 hits.

Despite these accomplishments, Carew’s departure from baseball was rather unceremonious. After the 1985 season, at the end of a two-year contract and after seven years with the Angels, Rod Carew’s baseball career was, to his surprise, over.

“I wasn’t ready to go,” he said. “I could have played. I know I could have helped someone out. I could go in there in a rocking chair and hit better than some of those guys I saw.”

But the Angels did not express any interest in resigning him, and fall faded into winter, winter faded into the spring of 1986 and suddenly, for the first time in two decades, there was a new baseball season and no Rod Carew.

“I missed it during spring training,” he said. “But that was all.”

It was during the spring, while he was waiting, that Carew started coaching his daughter’s Bobbi Sox softball team, the start of his interest in girls’ softball, which continues today. (He is currently working with the Canyon High School softball team.)

In June 1986, the San Francisco Giants contacted Carew and expressed interest in signing him, but, by then, Carew had lost interest in playing a final season.

“I was still in shape,” he said. “But I had already reached the point of no returning.”

So that was the end. Since that time there has been a ceremony retiring his jersey (No. 29) at Anaheim Stadium in 1986 and a similar ceremony last season in Minnesota, where Carew played for 12 years.

He stays in touch with a few players--Doug DeCinces, Bob Boone, Tony Oliva from Minnesota. But he says he doesn’t feel nostalgic, that he didn’t feel emotional when the Angels were in the 1986 league championship series, that he doesn’t regret leaving the game.

“When I read the paper about Wally Joyner (and his contract dispute), I shake my head,” he said. “I’m glad I got away from all that. I have no one to answer to but myself.”

In 1986, Carew attended another ceremony in his honor, in Panama, the country of his birth. There were numerous ceremonies, a parade, a reception with Gen. Manuel Noriega and swarms of fans, who brought flowers and gifts.

Carew was born in Panama in 1945 and spent the first 14 years of his life there, living a childhood marred by poverty. One of the highlights of his early years was baseball, playing the game and listening to radio broadcasts on Armed Forces radio.

After moving to New York, Carew played baseball on sandlots and outside Yankee Stadium, dreaming of one day playing inside. Major league scouts noticed him and, when he was 17, he signed with the Twins. After two years in the minors, Carew came up to the majors.

Despite his achievements since that time, the early days are what he still remembers as his most exciting.

“My first All-Star Game (in 1967) I played in Anaheim,” he said, “I was out there with Mays and Mantle and Killebrew and I was only 20 years old. I never thought I’d be on the field with those guys. That was one of my greatest thrills.”

There were others. In 1977, the year his smile graced the cover of Time magazine, he was named the league’s most valuable player. In 1979, he signed a five-year, $4-million contract with the Angels, who won their first divisional title that season.

But Carew never achieved what all players dream of, playing in the World Series. He also didn’t receive the huge commercial endorsement contracts that some other players have.

“I never worried about it,” he said. “I had offers, but I didn’t believe in them. I know my name will always come to mind. I know people recognize what I accomplished.”

Carew says he doesn’t miss the spotlight. He never enjoyed it. He calls the roughest part of his career his dealing with the media.

“I felt like they wanted my time when they shouldn’t have had it,” he said.

Marilynn said Carew doesn’t miss the pressure of stardom.

“Between the white lines he was safe and comfortable,” she said. “That was where he did his thing and he was the best. Not outside.”

In 1990, Carew will become eligible for the baseball Hall of Fame. But he has made bets with friends that he won’t be inducted in his first year of eligibility. He thinks his rocky relationship with the press, which selects members, will hurt him.

“But I think (when it happens) it will be a good moment,” he said. “When I was growing up, I dreamt about it. I never thought that I would accomplish all these things.”

Carew does not know what the future holds in store for him.

“I might just decide to run this school for a couple of years and then retire completely and do nothing,” he said. “I’m not sure.”

So, for now, Carew is content to spend his time in the batting cages dealing with children who seem a little overwhelmed at the individual attention they are receiving.

On the walls are big white signs with red letters urging, THINK and CONCENTRATE . The autographs of his students, signed and dated, are scrawled across the wall along side the autographed photographs of some of the greatest ballplayers of the last 20 years--Pete Rose, Dave Parker, Dave Winfield, Wade Boggs. Former teammate Reggie Jackson grins beneath his inscription: “To Rod, the best hitter in baseball.”

And the best hitter in baseball leans forward, patiently adjusts his student’s stance, and quietly reminds him to concentrate.

ROD CAREW Age: 42. Hometown: Gatun, Panama. Residence: Anaheim. Accomplishments:

One of only 16 players to reach 3,000 career hits.

Batted over .300 for 15 consecutive seasons.

Had a .328 lifetime average.

Won seven batting titles.

American League rookie of the year in 1967.

American League’s most valuable player in 1977.

18-time all-star and all-time leading all-star vote-getter.