Rod Carew, one of the greatest hitters the game has seen, was quite particular about his bats. Rod consistenly swung H&B and LVS throughout his career other than briefly dabbling with Adirondacks in 1980 & 1981 as a member of the Angels. Carew was a big believer in taking care of his equipment and keeping his equipment looking clean. He was known for cleaning his bats, I have even heard that he used a toothbrush to scrub his bats during his Minnesota days. The pride Carew took in his bats was bad for bat collectors as the cleanliness diminished the character in the bats. He used varying degrees of tar throughout his career, typically applied to the lower to mid handle. More times than not, light tar was applied. You will occasionally find a Carew with heavier tar. Rod was inconsistent with applying his uniform number to the knob of his bats. There are many examples of Rod using a bat with nothing on the knob. Carew would have his own custom, C243 model turned by H&B which would go on to be one of the more popular turning models produced by LVS. Carew would often times bat with the label facing back, therefore game use should be seen on the back and left barrel.
Ideal Gamer: '76 and earlier.
Difficulty: 3 Quality Gamer: 4 Ideal Gamer: 4
Popularity/Demand: 4, Although his prices are suppressed due to lack of character and playing for small market teams, quality Carew examples will always be in high demand. 18x All-Star, 7 batting titles, 3,000 hits and the AL Batting Crown named after him, people are starting to realize what a special talent Carew was.
Ideal characteristics: Number on knob, moderate to heavy tar.
Graded?