Rod Carew -- Sorry Adam Sandler, I'm NOT a Jew!

Take off your yarmulke ... put down that gin and tonica ... 'cause Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew isn't Jewish after all ... despite the lyrics in Adam Sandler's famous "Hanukkah Song."

Everyone knows the lyrics:

"O.J. Simpson ... NOT A JEW!!!
... but guess who is ... Hall of famer Rod Carew ... (he converted)."

But when we ran into Rod at LAX this weekend, the baseball legend set the record straight .. he never actually converted back in the day.

Don't worry, Rod says he and Adam talked about the mistake after the song was released ... and the two even struck up a friendship over the mix up.