I am currently reading Game Six: Cincinnati, Boston and the 1975 World Series: The Triumph of America’s Pastime. I was a 9 year old boy, in New England who had to go to school the next day and missed one of the greatest games ever. In the book, I just finished the account of the game.
In the section leading up to Bernie Carbo’s game-tying pinch hit 3-run home run, Mark Frost mentions some of Bernie’s personal issues. He had a number of personal demons the prevented him from realizing the potential that he had.
One of my clearest memories of our many trips to Fenway Park as a child was leaving a game early, thinking it was over. Dad wanted to beat the traffic. Then we heard, “Now up, Bernie Carbo.” He was pinch hitting again. Soon the crowd erupted as we saw a baseball fly over the netting atop the Green Monster. The man could hit.
He has admitted in a Boston Globe article that he was high on drugs at the time of his historic home run.
His story is tragic in many ways, as the article continues.
“I played every game high,’’ he said. “I was addicted to anything you could possibly be addicted to. I played the out field sometimes where it looked like the stars were falling from the sky.
“I played baseball 17 years of my life and I don’t think I ever missed a day of being high, other than when I went to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait [for a baseball clinic] in 1989. And the only reason I didn’t do any drugs there was that I was afraid that I would lose my life.’’
I ache for a man who could have done so much, but wasted it. The man who gave Boston another shot needed to be redeemed himself. Thankfully that is not the rest of the story. He has been redeemed, he has found the peace that eluded him all those years.
“I threw away my career,’’ said Carbo, 62. “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.’’
Now he uses his old love, baseball, to tell people about his new love- Jesus. He runs a fantasy camp in Mobile, Alabama each year at Hank Aaron stadium. He uses the proceeds from the camp to travel through New England each summer putting on clinics, speaking at youth camps, prisons, 12-step programs and more. His story recounts the pervasiveness of drugs and alcohol in baseball in those years, as well as the sins against him that he tried to sooth with drugs. But it also reveals the Mighty Savior who found him, able to reach him in the darkest hole. Check it out.
hi
this may seem way out there but i remember watching the home fun hit by bernie carbo and i am and have been fighting drug addiction serious enough for 2 od’s that i died and 35 years of losing my homes,family,homelessness and the death of my parents a long time ago and i believe it was my fault.i have attended over 5000 aa and aa meetings and got off my last methadone program after 11 years of that and any pill,or what would fit in a syringe.i always believed in jesus and god but thought he just did not hear me or i had the wrong number.i am going to be 47 years old and am renting a room after owning 2 houses and a vacation condo,i have no car yet i work every night driving a tracter/trailer 10pm to 9am and never miss time.i do suboxone now because they say i need it and im too far down the road for total abstinance.i take small amounts prescribed for anxiety and thats it but i still cant get in touch with my god and this life is not worth continuing’regards if i could write bernie or anyone to figure out why not check out.my roomate did on xmas ever at 50 yrs old and out of 15 of our gang of friends growing up 12 never saw 25 and i just feel alone and dont matter
peace
joe murray