Rodney Carew is a Panamanian former professional baseball player. Carew did not develop an interest for baseball till age 20, but soon after was playing semi-pro baseball for the Bronx Cavaliers. Carew was discovered by a Minnesota Twins' scout there, who was very impressed. During his eventual MLB tryout, Carew performed so well that Twins' manager Sam Mele finished the tryout early so that the Yankees would not see him.

Carew played from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels. He won the 1977 AL Most Valuable Player Award, setting a Twins record with a .388 batting average. Carew appeared in 18 straight All-Star Games and led the AL in hits three times, with his 239 hits in 1977 being twelfth most at the time (as of 2020). He won seven AL batting titles, the second most AL batting titles in history behind Ty Cobb, and on July 12, 2016 the AL batting title was renamed to the Rod Carew American League batting title. His 3,053 hits are 27th all time, and his career batting average of .328 is 34th all time. 

As of 2020, he is the greatest contact hitter in Twins history. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 in his first year of eligibility. He was also elected to the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame, Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame, and Angels Hall of Fame. After retiring as a player, Carew served as a coach for the Angels and the Milwaukee Brewers.