A hearty congratulations to Minnesota Twins Hall of Famer Rod Carew who, in August, became a U.S. citizen.
The 78-year-old baseball slugger is a native of Panama. Born into a life of abject poverty, he immigrated to the United States at age 14 and became a baseball “batting champion” after 19 seasons in the major leagues, 12 of which were spent with the Minnesota Twins. He won seven batting titles and had a lifetime batting average of .328 – a legacy that places him among the 30 best hitters in Major League Baseball.
His wife, Rhonda Carew, told The Athletic that “He studied those [citizenship test questions] questions and the answers to those questions like there was no tomorrow. He was not going to miss a question.”
His response? “I love this country. It has given me everything and more.”
Congratulations to a great Minnesotan and now a great American.
From The Athletic story:
Friends and family implored Carew to become a citizen for years. After becoming a U.S. citizen himself in 1971, fellow Hall of Famer and longtime friend Tony Oliva suggested Carew do the same.
“The first time he told me he wasn’t an American citizen, I didn’t believe him because he came to America as a young kid,” said Oliva, 86, who was born in Cuba. “I was thinking he was playing around. We’ve known each other for a hundred years. I still was thinking he was lying. … When they mentioned it at the dinner the other night, I opened my eyes like, ‘Finally. What did you wait for?’”
Carew thought he’d become a citizen much earlier in his life, but it never happened.
Back in the 1960s, he hoped a six-year stint in the Marine Corps Reserves would provide a path to citizenship. But he was never offered one and then baseball and life got in the way.
He didn’t pursue it further until recently.
Read Dan Hayes’ inspirational story on Rod Carew in the Athletic.
