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Minnesota Twins: Rod Carew passed on all-time leaderboard

By Nate Palmer

ANAHEIM, CA - APRIL 25: Baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew talks to the media during a press conference about his heart and kidney transplant prior to the game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 25, 2017 in Anaheim, California. Carew received his heart and kidney came from Konrad Reuland (in photo ) of the Baltimore Ravens who died Dec. 12 following complications a brain aneurysm. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - APRIL 25: Baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew talks to the media during a press conference about his heart and kidney transplant prior to the game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 25, 2017 in Anaheim, California. Carew received his heart and kidney came from Konrad Reuland (in photo ) of the Baltimore Ravens who died Dec. 12 following complications a brain aneurysm. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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The Minnesota Twins celebrated a win on Thursday with Twins legend Rod Carew in attendance. Carew was also celebrating some non-Twins achievements.

As the Minnesota Twins spent Thursday in a frigid home opener claiming a win from the Seattle Mariners, baseball history was being made elsewhere. That history directly affected one of the Twins greats who was sitting at Target Field on Thursday. As Rod Carew took in some Twins baseball, Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre passed Carew to become the Latin-American born player with the most major league hits. Even though it meant he was no longer on top of that leaderboard, Carew was happy for Beltre.

Every year Beltre seems to be one of those players that nationally flies very much under the radar. As the likes of Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, etc. take the spotlight, Beltre just consistently performs at a high level. That consistency allowed Beltre to pass Carew’s 3,053 career hits Thursday.

Carew currently sits 26th all-time for career hits in MLB history. After Thursday’s game, Beltre is now at 3,055 hits for his career and 24th all-time. Carew who was born in Panama knows a thing or two about hitting as he was one of the best hitters in MLB history over his 19 season career. He was also aware of Beltre’s proximity to his record and rooting for him.

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As reported by Derek Wetmore at 1500 ESPN, Carew was pulling for the “old guys” playing on Thursday as he said, “Oh yeah, I was, and I was pulling for Ichiro. We know how tough it is to get there, so when we do it’s like ‘We did accomplish something.'”

Even with the advances in how players take care of their bodies, we may not sit back and marvel enough just how amazing it is that players like Ichiro Suzuki and Beltre are still performing at the levels they are. Beltre is set to turn 39 on Saturday, the same age Carew was in his final season. Beltre is still performing well even as many wonder if retirement isn’t on the horizon for the 20-year veteran.

Carew who played in a much different era of baseball went over 200 hits several times for a season over his career. Collected 2,085 hits in a Twins uniform and collected 124 hits in his final season with the California Angels. Barring injury, Beltre should eclipse 100 hits easily this season and find himself in the top-20 of hits all-time.

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It will take a while for any current Twins to join Beltre and Carew on the MLB all-time hits leaderboard. Within days fans should have the opportunity to celebrate Joe Mauer‘s 2,000th hit. With Mauer potentially looking to retire before he gets to the 3,000 hit mark. Fans will likely have to wait to see if one of the Twins many young players can make a run to join Beltre and Carew in the elite 3,000 hit club.

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