28 Years Ago in TIME

Major League Baseball will soon name an all-time Latino Legends Team based on fan balloting. One of the game's greatest Latino players, Panamanian-born batting champ ROD CAREW, was a TIME cover subject.

Rod Carew is the least-known star in baseball's galaxy. He works his wonders in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, cities owned--in the national mind, if not in reality--by Fran Tarkenton, Mary Tyler Moore and blizzards. Carew's feats have gone virtually unnoticed by the national press ... Even when it comes, recognition has sometimes been careless and absentminded, casually askew. In Carew's playroom is a 2-ft.-high trophy--the Joe Cronin Award--all polished wood and gleaming brass. The American League presented it to the great lefthanded hitter in recognition of his fourth consecutive batting championship. On top of the trophy stands the likeness of a batter--a righthanded batter. Carew is fonder of the Medal of Honor given to him by his native Panama. Says he proudly: "I'm the only athlete ever to have won it."

--TIME, July 18, 1977

Read the entire article at time.com/years