Bernie Carbo Was Stoned Out Of His Gourd, All The Frickin' Time

The pinch-hit hero has found God, so he's coming clean about his playing career. Spoiler alert: it involved lots and lots of drugs.

In the 1975 World Series, Carbo came off the bench to hit the home run that made Carlton Fisk's more famous home run possible. How did he do it?

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," Carbo said.

Today Carbo tells all to the Boston Globe, and it's a treasure trove of what we imagine life for a ballplayer in the '70s to have been like. Among the highlights:

•As a rookie, the Reds' team trainer gave him what he thought were vitamins. They weren't, and he was hooked.

•In 1975, found himself in a rainy Chicago gutter at 5 a.m.

•Before Game 6, missed a batting practice session at Tufts University because he couldn't find Tufts University.

•In 1978, the Red Sox hired a private investigator to see if they couldn't catch him using drugs. They found him tossing baseballs to fans in the bleachers in exchange for marijuana.

•Until being born again, Carbo says he took drugs every single day, except for a baseball clinic in the Middle East. Apparently the Saudis' death-penalty-for-everything policy is a pretty good deterrent.

Carbo's clean now, and operating his own ministry. So we're thrilled for him. But we're also comforted to know that in the '70s, you didn't have to be particularly good at baseball to still live like a rock star.

Cleaned-up hitter [Boston Globe]