Rod Carew played for the Angels in his last seven seasons in the majors. Carew never won a batting title for the Angels and his batting average was 14 points lower than his career average, but his Angel career was still very productive.
Carew was traded to the Angels from his first team the Minnesota Twins in a blockbuster deal. The Angels traded Brad Havens, Paul Hartzell, Ken Landreaux, and Dave Engle in exchange for Carew. Carew wanted to leave Minnesota because then owner Calvin Griffith had made some racially insensitive comments at a Lions Club breakfast.
Carew in his first year with the Angels helped lead them to their first division title in team history by hitting .