View source for Bernie Carbo

{{short description|American baseball player (born 1947)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{blp refimprove|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Bernie Carbo
|image=BernieCarbo.jpg
|caption=Carbo in 1993
|position=[[Outfielder]]
|bats=Left
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1947|8|5}}
|birth_place=[[Detroit, Michigan]], U.S.
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=September 2
|debutyear=1969
|debutteam=Cincinnati Reds
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=September 29
|finalyear=1980
|finalteam=Pittsburgh Pirates
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.264
|stat2label=[[Home run]]s
|stat2value=96
|stat3label=[[Runs batted in]]
|stat3value=358
|teams=
* [[Cincinnati Reds]] ({{mlby|1969}}–{{mlby|1972}})
* [[St. Louis Cardinals]] ({{mlby|1972}}–{{mlby|1973}})
* [[Boston Red Sox]] ({{mlby|1974}}–{{mlby|1976}})
* [[Milwaukee Brewers]] ({{mlby|1976}})
* [[Boston Red Sox]] ({{mlby|1977}}–{{mlby|1978}})
* [[Cleveland Guardians|Cleveland Indians]] ({{mlby|1978}})
* [[St. Louis Cardinals]] ({{mlby|1979}}–{{mlby|1980}})
* [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] ({{mlby|1980}})
|highlights=
}}
'''Bernardo Carbo''' (born August 5, 1947) is an American former professional [[baseball]] [[outfielder]] and [[designated hitter]] who played 12 seasons in [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB). He began his career with the [[Cincinnati Reds]], and went on to play with five other teams, including two stints with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] and [[Boston Red Sox]].

==Early life==
He was raised in the Detroit suburb of [[Livonia, Michigan|Livonia]] and graduated in 1965 from [[Franklin High School (Livonia, Michigan)|Franklin High School]], playing for the school's baseball team while there. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

==Career==
An outfielder, Carbo was the [[1965 Cincinnati Reds season|Cincinnati Reds]]' first selection (16th overall) in the inaugural [[1965 Major League Baseball draft|1965 draft]], ahead of [[Johnny Bench]], and his first major league hit was a [[home run]].<ref name=fhahr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CsktAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lqAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4066%2C4767923 |work=Reading Eagle |location=Pennsylvania |agency=AP photo |title=Carbo's first hit a home run |date=April 7, 1970 |page=20}}</ref><ref name=piporein>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uiYxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uQEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5580%2C304534 |work=Toledo Blade |location=Ohio |agency=Associated Press |title=Pitching, power Reds' ingredients 
|date=April 7, 1970 |page=18}}</ref> In his [[1970 Cincinnati Reds season|1970]] rookie season, Carbo posted career highs in [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] (.310), [[home run]]s (21), [[runs batted in]] (63), [[Hit (baseball)|hits]] (113), [[on-base percentage]] (.454), [[slugging average]] (.551), [[On-base plus slugging|OPS]] (1.005) and [[games played]] (125). Carbo was selected [[Rookie of the Year (award)|Rookie of the Year]] by ''[[The Sporting News]]'', but he slumped in the next two seasons and was sent to the [[1973 St. Louis Cardinals season|St. Louis Cardinals]].

===Boston Red Sox===
[[File:Bernie Carbo Red Sox.jpg |thumb|left|200px|Carbo with the Boston Red Sox]]
After the [[1973 St. Louis Cardinals season|1973]] season in late October, St. Louis traded Carbo and [[Rick Wise]] to the [[1974 Boston Red Sox season|Boston Red Sox]] for [[Reggie Smith]] and [[Ken Tatum]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/27/archives/cards-red-sox-confirm-trade-of-wise-for-smith-baseball-transactions.html "Cards, Red Sox Confirm Trade of Wise for Smith," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, October 27, 1973.] Retrieved November 29, 2020</ref> He said of coming to Boston: "When I first met [Red Sox owner] [[Tom Yawkey|Mr. Yawkey]], he was shining shoes in the clubhouse," said Carbo, "and I went up to him and gave him $20 and told him to get me a cheeseburger and fries." While playing for the Red Sox, he was a part of the "Buffalo Heads", with [[Bill Lee (left-handed pitcher)|Bill "Spaceman" Lee]] and [[Ferguson Jenkins]]. Carbo would also carry around a giant stuffed gorilla that was named Mighty Joe Young. The gorilla sat next to him in the middle seat on planes. [[Carl Yastrzemski]] wanted the gorilla placed on the bat rack in the dugout.<ref name="boston1">{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2010/04/01/cleaned_up_hitter/?page=1 |title=Boston Red Sox - Cleaned-up hitter - The Boston Globe |publisher=Boston.com |date=2010-04-01 |access-date=2014-04-07}}</ref>

The [[1975 World Series]] matched the Red Sox with the heavily favored [[1975 Cincinnati Reds season|Cincinnati Reds]], who were looking for their first title since [[1940 World Series|1940]]. Boston had also suffered a drought by not winning a Series since [[1918 World Series|1918]]. The clubs battled back and forth, with the Reds winning three of the first five games. Carbo was excited to see some of his old teammates. Carbo would be on the bench, and his former teammates were sympathetic. [[Clay Carroll]] inscribed a picture for him and it read "Good luck in the World Series." After Game 3, when Carbo hit a home run off him, Carbo said, "They told me Carroll was in here and just went crazy, ripping up the picture into little pieces."

Game 6 was postponed three days because of rain. Carbo did not join his teammates for batting practice at [[Tufts University]] because he said he couldn't find it. He spent the early part of Game 6 working on his Louisville Slugger. "I’m sitting there and I’m whittling this bat, I took a lathe and took all the polish off. It's nice and smooth. Rick Wise is sitting next to me and says, ‘You know, you can’t use that bat. It doesn’t have an emblem on it.’ So as the game was going I took a magic marker and wrote ‘Louisville Slugger’ on it. That's how I kept myself amused."<ref name="boston1"/>

In Game 6 (October 21), with two outs and two batters on base in the eighth inning, [[Roger Moret]] was scheduled to bat. [[Darrell Johnson]] told Carbo to get ready. <blockquote> And I said, "Hey, I'm not going to hit. [[Juan Beníquez]], grab a bat, you're going to hit. Sparky's going to go to the lefthander because Sparky goes by the book." Darrell said, "Well, go up and stand on the on-deck circle." And they introduced me. So I'm still thinking Sparky will come out and take [[Rawly Eastwick]] out and go with [[Will McEnaney]]. But the umpire says, "C'mon, you’ve been announced, you’re hitting."

So I go into the batter's box. I ain’t ready to hit. Next thing, strike one, strike two, ball one, ball two. Then he threw me a cut fastball, a little slider and I took it right out of Bench's glove — the ball just dribbled out. I step out and I’m thinking, "Aw man, I almost struck out. I was lucky."

I hit the next pitch to center field. I rounded first base and I saw [[César Gerónimo]] going back. Rounding second, I knew it was gone and I'm yelling to [[Pete Rose]], "Don't you wish you were this strong?" And Pete is yelling back, "Ain't this fun, Bernie? This is what the World Series is about. This is fun."

[[Johnny Bench]] said after the game it looked like a Little Leaguer learning how to hit. Pete Rose said it was the worst swing he ever saw. [[Don Zimmer]] said he thought it was over. [[Rico Petrocelli]] said it looked like a pitcher who hurt his arm, trying to make a comeback as a hitter.<ref name="boston1"/></blockquote>

Carbo's [[Pinch hitter|pinch]] three-run home run tied the score 6-6, paving the way for [[Carlton Fisk]]'s game-winning homer in the bottom of the twelfth for a 7-6 Red Sox victory. Carbo's pinch homer was his second of the Series, tying [[Chuck Essegian]]'s 16-year-old record for most in a World Series. Game 7, watched by an estimated 71 million TV viewers, saw the Reds triumph in the ninth inning on a bloop [[Single (baseball)|single]] by [[Joe Morgan]] for a 4-3 win. Carbo's Game 6 home run was later inducted into the [[Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame]] in 2004 as a memorable moment.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bernie-carbo/ | title=Bernie Carbo | publisher=sabr.org | accessdate=28 August 2024}}</ref>

[[Tom Yawkey]] would pass away in 1976, and Carbo wept. Carbo saw Yawkey as a father figure, because his father did not really care about him. Even after his game tying home run in Game 6, he waited all night for a call and did not receive one. New owners [[Haywood Sullivan]] and [[Buddy LeRoux]] hired a private detective to follow Carbo.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

===Later career===
He was eventually sold to the [[Cleveland Guardians|Cleveland Indians]] in June 1978. This made Bill Lee mad and he called the owners "gutless" and staged a walkout.

His major league career ended in 1980 with the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]]. In a 12-year career, Carbo was a .264 hitter with 96 home runs and 358 RBI in 1010 games.

In 1989–90, while playing in a senior league in [[St. Petersburg, Florida]], Carbo hit rock bottom. His mother had committed suicide, his father died two months later, and his family was disintegrating. He was spending $32,000 a month on drugs (mostly cocaine). [[Dalton Jones]], a member of the Red Sox 1967 Impossible Dream team, took one look at Carbo and said, "You need Jesus."<ref name="boston1"/>

Carbo was the field manager for the Pensacola Pelicans from 2003 to 2005. Carbo compiled a record of 150–103 in his three seasons as the field manager, a winning percentage of .593. He led the Pelicans to the championship series in the independent Southeastern League in 2003, losing to the Baton Rouge RiverBats. Carbo resigned in February 2006, in order to return full-time to Diamond Club Ministry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3265669 |title=After Three Successful Seasons Pelicans Manager Bernie Carbo Moves On - OurSports Central - Independent and Minor League Sports News |publisher=OurSports Central |date=2006-02-02 |access-date=2014-04-07}}</ref>

==After baseball==
After retiring, Carbo went on to [[cosmetology school]] and opened a hairdressing salon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sportsprof.blogspot.com/2005/07/for-those-of-you-wondering-about.html |title=SportsProf: For Those of You Wondering About Bernie Carbo |publisher=Sportsprof.blogspot.com |date=2005-07-06 |access-date=2014-04-07}}</ref> In 1985, in a federal drug distribution trial, former Cardinal [[Keith Hernandez]] said Carbo was the man who introduced him to cocaine in 1980. Carbo subsequently lost his house and his salon because of the bad publicity.<ref name="boston1"/>

He has since become a [[born again Christian]]. In 1993, he founded the evangelical organization "Diamond Club Ministry." [http://www.berniecarbo.com/] and now spends his time ministering to families and their children through his love for the game. He says he has not used drugs or alcohol in over fifteen years.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===Admissions to drug use===
On April 1, 2010, in an interview with the ''[[Boston Globe]]'', Carbo admitted to doing drugs during the [[1975 World Series]]. He states, "I probably smoked two joints, drank about three or four beers, got to the ballpark, took some [amphetamines], took a pain pill, drank a cup of coffee, chewed some tobacco, had a cigarette, and got up to the plate and hit." It was not just a one-time binge, however. In the same article, Carbo states, "I played every game high. I was addicted to anything you could possibly be addicted to. I played the outfield sometimes where it looked like the stars were falling from the sky."

"I threw away my career", said Carbo. "If I knew Jesus Christ was my savior at 17, I would have been one heck of a ballplayer, a near Hall of Famer. Instead, I wanted to die."<ref name="boston1"/>

==See also==
* [[The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award]]

==Sources==
*''The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia'' – Gary Gillette, Peter Gammons, Pete Palmer. Publisher: Sterling Publishing, 2005. Format: Paperback, 1824pp. Language: English. {{ISBN|1-4027-4771-3}}
* [http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/25moments/4.html Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010105132400/http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/25moments/4.html |date=2001-01-05 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20020917161051/http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASapp/mlb/bos/history/bos_history_timeline_article.jsp?article=1975b The Red Sox may not have won the 1975 World Series. But they certainly did not lose.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041214101623/http://www.sportingnews.com/features/wherearethey/carbo/ The Sporting News]

==References==
<references />

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* [http://www.berniecarbo.com/ Official website]
{{Baseballstats |mlb=111979 |espn=53 |br=c/carbobe01 |fangraphs=1001935}}
* https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001078563115#!/pages/Bernie-Carbo/136839046351460

{{1965 MLB Draft}}
{{Cincinnati Reds first-round draft picks}}
{{Sporting News MLB Rookie of the year}}
{{AA MVPs}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carbo, Bernie}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
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