They used to say Rod Carew had a different stance for every pitcher. That wasn't really true, but he did have different stances. Sometimes he'd crowd the plate, daring pitchers to come inside. Sometimes he'd crouch down lower, especially against power pitchers, shrinking the size of the strike zone. He could hit in all of them, winning seven batting titles, including a .388 mark in 1977, and hitting .300 every season from 1969 to 1983.
Carew, 71, underwent heart and kidney transplant surgery Thursday, after living with a left ventricular device that has pumped his heart since September 2015, when he suffered a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest while undergoing surgery to open clogged arteries.