Sports Heroes Who Served: Stellar Baseball Player, Coach Also Served in the Marines

As a seven-time American League batting champion and 18-time All-Star for the Minnesota Twins (1967-1978) and the California Angels (1979-1985), Rod Carew is considered a baseball legend.

He also served as a combat engineer for six years in the Marine Corps Reserve, enlisting in 1966.

Combat engineers are proficient at building bridges, demolitions, route clearance and other tasks.

In October 2011, Carew was the guest of honor at a "Character and Courage" celebration in Cooperstown, New York, the location of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1991.

"When I joined the Marine Corps, it was a life-changing event for me because I learned about discipline. When I first came up to the big leagues in 1967, I was a little bit of a hothead. But after two weeks of war games every summer, I realized that baseball was not do-or-die. That kind of discipline made me the player I became," he said at the celebration.

Following the celebration, Carew traveled to Syracuse, New York, to visit patients at the Syracuse Vet Center, which is run by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

With a career total of 92 home runs and a batting average of .328, Carew cemented his baseball legacy. In 1969, he stole home base seven times, one away from Ty Cobb's record of eight.

Carew also coached the Angels from 1992 to 1999 and then coached the Milwaukee Brewers from 2000 to 2001.

In the summer of 1977, Carew appeared on the cover of Time magazine with the caption: "Baseball's Best Hitter."

In 2004, Panama's National Stadium was renamed Rod Carew National Stadium. Carew was born in the Panama Canal Zone Oct. 1, 1945.

On Aug. 23, 2024, Carew became a U.S. citizen.

"I've always said the U.S. is home, and this is one way to repay this country for what it has done for me. Being able to play baseball gave me the kind of life that I had and that I have today. I'm grateful for the way I was treated, the way people looked up to me and the appreciation of the people I played in front of, wherever I went," Carew told the Los Angeles Times following his naturalization ceremony.

Carew, 79, lives in Anaheim Hills, California, with his second wife Rhonda and her two children Cheyenne and Devon.