During his 19-year career in Major League Baseball, Hall of Famer Rod Carew repeated one thought every time he showered or changed in the locker room: “Keep your back to the wall.” The scarred back he kept hidden reminded him daily of his childhood pain.
As a boy in his native Panama, Carew suffered severe physical abuse at the hands of his father, an alcoholic.
“Every afternoon, I would wait at our kitchen window and watch for my father. I could tell by the way he walked whether or not I would get a beating that day,” Carew says.
Even the baseball diamond was not free from his father’s rages. The star athlete remembers shaking and vomiting with fear after missing a ground ball at an important Little League game—an error that earned him a public scolding from his father.
Carew’s move to the United States at age 14 provided him with some relief. His father did not join the family in their new country until the following year, and his return marked a change in the family dynamic. Carew and his brother had grown to be teenagers who were more capable of defending themselves. In Panama, they had lived in their father’s house; in New York, they had become the men of the household.
On the day he graduated from high school, Carew signed with the Minnesota Twins beginning his first of twelve seasons with the team and kicking off what would be one of the most memorable careers in Major League Baseball history. He went on to spend his final seven seasons with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Since then, Carew has enjoyed enormous success—but he a still wishes a safe haven like Hillview Acres had existed during his childhood.
“I never had that place,” he says. “It would have made a tremendous difference to have had people who cared.”
Carew believes whole-heartedly in Hillview Acres’ mission to provide a safe, healing environment to children who have suffered the pain of abuse and neglect. He hopes that in sharing his story and serving on Hillview’s Board of Directors, he can give a word of confidence to the children who share his story.
“I want to show these children that they can achieve their dreams, no matter what they go through.”