Former Coach Rod Carew

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Rod Carew Resigns
He won't return as Brewers' hitting coach

The moment took place six months ago, but it seems much more distant now.

On April 6, in the bottom of the eighth inning of the inaugural regular-season game at Miller Park, Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Richie Sexson belted what turned out to be a winning homer off Cincinnati lefty Dennys Reyes.

As he headed toward first base, with the capacity crowd of 42,024 roaring its approval, Sexson looked into the home dugout and pointed at the man whose advice moments before led to the homer: hitting coach Rod Carew.

It was a highlight of the season and, though no one could have known at the time, a sign of things to come.

As the Brewers' all-or-nothing offense struggled through a disappointing summer, with free-swinging players whiffing their way toward the major-league strikeout record, many fingers pointed at Carew, a Hall of Famer regarded as one of the greatest contact hitters of all time, as a symbol of the team's struggles.

With Carew's two-year contract set to expire at the end of the season, there was heavy speculation throughout the baseball world that he would not be back for the 2002 season.

On Tuesday afternoon, Carew informed general manager Dean Taylor that he was resigning effective at the end of the season.

"I can't say it was a great surprise," Taylor said of the move, which was announced during the Brewers' 10-3 loss to St. Louis Thursday afternoon at Miller Park. "I was well aware of Rod's frustrations that he experienced this season and to some degree last season. He had discussed those issues with myself and Davey (Lopes, the manager) from time to time."

Carew did not meet with reporters to discuss his decision but released a one-page statement through the team's media relations department. It read:

"This has been a frustrating and disappointing year for everybody involved with the Brewers. During the coming off-season many hard decisions will have to be made regarding improving the team's performance on the field. With my contract expiring, I've decided to make one of those decisions easier for everyone and step aside as the Brewers' hitting instructor at the end of the season.

"Individually a good number of our hitters improved their output this past season so, mechanically, our hitters were fine. Yet collectively we failed to hit as a team. We failed to pick each other up. We failed to get runners over and we failed to get runners in from third with less than two outs. Those are fundamental things that winning teams do and no one preaches it more than I do. No matter who comes in here, that message won't change. Maybe changing the messenger will.

"I've been in professional baseball now for 36 years and I've really enjoyed these past two seasons. I can't say enough about the fans, Wendy (Selig-Prieb, the club president), the organization and the community pride that is so evident in Milwaukee. I only regret we didn't win more games for everybody."

With three games left in the season, the Brewers have a team batting average of .251, which ranks 14th in the National League and 27th in the major leagues.

The Brewers also set a major-league record for strikeouts (1,377 and counting) and will be the first team in major-league history to finish a season with more strikeouts than hits.

Carew, a seven-time batting champion who compiled a .328 batting average and 3,053 hits in 19 seasons as a player, signed a two-year contract before the 2000 season. In his first season as Milwaukee's hitting coach, the Brewers had a .246 average, the lowest in the major leagues.

The Brewers will begin searching for Carew's successor after the season.