Page 154 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 147
and was called out on strikes. He had two more plate appearances the remainder of the season as a pinch- hitter, going hitless, and one appearance as a pinch-runner.
Carbo and manager Sparky Anderson were both promoted to the Reds in 1970. Anderson platooned Carbo with the right-handed-hitting Hal McRae in left eld. Carbo was the starter on Opening Day, April 6, 1970, against the Montreal Expos at Crosley Field, hitting seventh in the batting order. After grounding out in his rst plate appearance, Carbo homered o Joe Sparma for his rst major-league hit in the fourth inning. He later walked and singled in a 5-1 Reds victory. Carbo jokingly described the home run to Herb Crehan as “the longest home run in baseball history. I hit it out of the park onto Route I-95. It landed in a truck and they found it in Florida, 1,300 miles away.”
On April 21, 1970, Carbo had his rst multi-homer game, swatting a pair against the Atlanta Braves. On July 27 he drove in ve runs against the Cardinals, a career high in a game. He went on to enjoy a stellar rookie year for the Reds, hitting what would prove to be full-season career highs in all of the three major o ensive statistics, batting .310 with an on-base per- centage of .454, and slugging 21 homers while driving in 63 runs in 125 games. He was named e Sporting News National League Rookie of the Year but nished second in the BBWAA’s Rookie of the Year ballot to Montreal pitcher Carl Morton, who was 18-11 for the last-place Expos.
e 1970 Reds, led by rookie manager Anderson, won 70 of their rst 100 games on the way to winning the National League West title. In a three-game sweep of the Pirates in the NLCS, Carbo appeared in two games, going hitless in six at-bats. In a ve-game World Series won by the Baltimore Orioles, Carbo extended his hitless skein, going 0-for-8 in four games. He did, however, manage to involve himself in a Game One controversy. In the sixth inning, with the score tied 3-3, the Reds’ Ty Cline hit a chopper in front of the plate. Plate umpire Ken Burkhart had moved directly in front of home plate to call the ball fair as
Carbo slid home, trying to score from third as catcher Elrod Hendricks attempted to tag him. Burkhart was spun to the ground, placing him with his back to the play as Hendricks tagged Carbo with an empty glove (the ball was in his bare hand). Burkhart incorrectly called Carbo out and left the score tied in a game that the Orioles would win 4-3.
After Carbo had begun to pay dividends in 1970 to the Reds for their rst-round draft investment in him, he slipped in 1971. His batting average fell to .219 with 5 home runs and 20 RBIs in 106 games. He had held out for more money in spring training. Drug use began to take its toll on his body. “I was a drug addict and alcoholic for 28 years,” Carbo told e Sporting News’ Andy Clendennen in a 2001 interview.“I started drink- ing when I was about 16 or 17, started on marijuana when I was 21, did cocaine when I was 22 or 23, and got into crystal meth, Dexedrines, Benzedrines, Darvons,codeine. ere wasn’t much that I didn’t do.” A holdout again in spring training 1972, Carbo was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for out elder/ rst baseman Joe Hague on May 19 after hitting only .143 in 19 games. Carbo spent the balance of the 1972 and 1973 seasons with the Cardinals, hitting .258 in 99 games in 1972 and improving to .286 in 111 games in 1973.
On October 26, 1973, Carbo was again traded, this time to the Boston Red Sox along with pitcher Rick Wise, for Reggie Smith and Ken Tatum. Carbo had an awkward introduction to his new owner, omas Yawkey. As reported by Herb Crehan, “[r]ight after I joined the team I walked into the clubhouse and there was an older gentleman straightening things up. I gave him $20 and asked him to get me a cheeseburger and some french fries. When the clubhouse kid de- livered the food, he asked me if I knew who I gave the $20 to I told him I didn’t.” It was Yawkey. Carbo appeared in 117 games in 1974 for a Red Sox squad that enjoyed a seven game lead in late August only to fade to third place at the end, seven games back of the division-winning Orioles. He hit .249 with a dozen round-trippers and 61 RBIs, serving as both an out- elder and designated hitter. After his mediocre 1974 season, Carbo became the rst Red Sox player to le