Bernie Carbo

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Bernie Carbo bigraphy, stories - American baseball player

Bernie Carbo : biography

August 5, 1947 –

Bernardo ‘Bernie’ Carbo (born August 5, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan) is a former outfielder and designated hitter who played from through for the Cincinnati Reds (1969–72), St. Louis Cardinals (1972–73, 1979–80), Boston Red Sox (1974–76, 1977–78), Milwaukee Brewers (1976), Cleveland Indians (1978) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1980). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was raised in the Detroit suburb of Livonia and graduated in 1965 from Franklin High School, playing for the school’s baseball team while there.

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

Boston

The Cardinals sent Carbo and Rick Wise to the Red Sox for Reggie Smith and Ken Tatum. He said of coming to Boston: "When I first met [Red Sox owner] 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 "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.

On June 26, 1975, in a game against the Yankees, Carbo made a daring catch at the right-field wall at Fenway Park of a hit by Chris Chambliss, crashing into the wall and losing his chaw of tobacco, then asking the umpires for time so that he could search the outfield for the missing chaw; after holding up the game for nearly 10 minutes, he found it lying on the warning track and put it back in his mouth.

In the 1975 World Series, the huge favorite Cincinnati Reds were looking for their first title since 1940. Boston also suffered a drought by not winning a Series since 1918. Both 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 take 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."

In Game 6 (October 21), with two outs and two batters on base in the 8th inning, Roger Moret was up at bat. Darrell Johnson told Carbo to get ready. 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."