Hall of Famer Rod Carew Slams Angels Owner Arte Moreno

Maren Angus-Coombs | Apr 13, 2024

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Hall of Famer Rod Carew has been invited to the Los Angeles Angels home opener every year for a little more than two decades.

Last year, he declined the invite. This year, the invitation never came. Carew and his wife, Rhonda, decided it was time to tell their story and spoke with Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.

“Not being invited to opening night was a trigger for him — like, OK, it’s time to tell my story,” Rhonda Carew said. “It’s like he’s been blacklisted.”

Carew has not been to Angel Stadium since 2022 and the only way he will return is if Arte Moreno sells the team. He is beyond fed up with how Moreno runs the organization that he considered asking Major League Baseball if he could order the removal of all references to him in the stadium, including his retired No. 29, any murals and video clips, and the statue of his daughter, Michelle, who was 18 when she died of leukemia in 1996.

“I was going to put it in my backyard,” Carew said of the bronze bust of his daughter and her pet dog, which was dedicated as part of the Michelle Carew community courtyard in 1999. “But it’s about the fans seeing those things and saying, ‘Oh, he was here once,’ so I decided against it.”

The couple resides in South Orange County and consistently run into Angels fan who question them about why they haven't been around the Angels lately. That now includes not renewing their season tickets after 53 years.

“I encounter Angels fans everywhere, and they say, ‘Hey, we don’t see you around the stadium anymore,’ ” said Carew. “Well, that’s not because of me. It’s because of the people upstairs.”

The strained relationship between Carew and the Angels bubbled over in 2022 when Moreno announced he was exploring options for a possible sale. Carew hoped a sale would happen then.

“Happy news,” Carew wrote on social media, adding that the development gave him “renewed hope that my relationship with the Angels can be fully restored.” Moreno reversed course in January 2023, pulling the team off the market.

Team president John Carpino insists that Carew is "always welcome at Angel Stadium and Arte has nothing but respect and love for Rod Carew — that, I can tell you.”

However, Moreno actions speak louder than words.

“If Arte wanted to reach out to Rod and wanted to mend what has happened, I know Rod would accommodate him,” Rhonda Carew said. “The ball is in Arte’s court.”