Word: carew
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Despite a long career at the top of his sport, Rod Carew is the least-known star in baseball's galaxy. He works his wonders in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, cities owned-in the national mind, if not in reality-by Fran Tarkenton, Mary Tyler Moore and blizzards. Carew's feats have gone virtually unnoticed by the national press. Without argument the outstanding hitter of his generation, he has appeared on the cover of the Sporting News-baseball's Bible-only three times in more than a decade. In an era of jocks selling...
...technique apparently works, for Carew's eye is one of the sharpest in baseball. He spots the ball-its speed and rotation-as soon as it leaves the pitcher's fingertips. Says he: "I can tell by the rotation whether it's a curve, slider or fastball." What is more, Carew can often actually see the ball hit his bat. Kansas City Outfielder Amos Otis has a hitter's respect for the Carew eye: "Trying to sneak a pitch past him is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster." Says the New York Yankees...
...close the holes, Carew has four different stances, two for lefthanded pitchers, two for righthanded pitchers. His varying postures at the plate break with baseball tradition. Batters generally tinker with their stances only when in the dire despond of an extended slump; Carew alters his to fit the pitcher and the pitching tactics. Whatever his stance, it is taken as deep in the batter's box as he can get. If opposing catchers are not wary, he will move so deep that his left foot is completely-and illegally-out of the box. Says Carew: "The further back...
Despite his strength and bat speed, Carew completely avoids the modern hitter's greatest weakness: the instinct to pull the pitch on the shortest line to the nearest fence. The lust for the long ball and the glory of homers has contributed as much to the decline in high-average hitters in the post-World War II era as the oft-cited rise of relief pitching. Trying to cream a fastball low and away is a sure way to strike...
...Carew does not strike out very often (52 whiffs last year). Nor are his many hits limited to a third of the playing field as is the case with most pulling power hitters. A lefthanded hitter (who throws rightie), he sprays the field like a grounds keeper's sprinkler; inside pitches are pulled, outside pitches go rocketing into left field, and, on the odd occasion when a careless hurler puts one down the pipe, the ball goes up the middle. Opponents cannot concoct a latter-day version of the Williams Shift-loading the defense to blanket a portion...