The return of Bernie Carbo to the Cardinals after a six-year absence was a minor free-agent signing with major consequences.
Forty years ago, in March 1979, the Cardinals signed Carbo to a two-year contract for a guaranteed $115,000 per season.
Carbo was projected to be a backup outfielder and pinch-hitter for the Cardinals in 1979 and 1980.
Years later, Keith Hernandez, the Cardinals first baseman who in 1979 won a National League batting title and was named co-winner of the Most Valuable Player Award, testified in federal court he began using cocaine with Carbo when they were Cardinals teammates.
In retaliation for testifying against him, Carbo said he offered to pay someone to have Hernandez’s arms broken.
From Reds to Redbirds to Red Sox
Carbo had a troubled childhood in Detroit, but he possessed baseball talent and was chosen by the Reds in the first round of the 1965 amateur draft.
He made his major-league debut with the Reds in 1969, became their left fielder in 1970 and helped them win the National League pennant. Carbo batted .310 with 21 home runs and a .454 on-base percentage for the 1970 Reds, but was hitless in the World Series versus the Orioles.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the relationship between Carbo and Reds manager Sparky Anderson deteriorated, and on May 19, 1972, Carbo was dealt to the Cardinals for first baseman Joe Hague.
As the Cardinals’ right fielder, Carbo batted .258 with a .381 on-base percentage in 1972 and .286 with a .397 on-base percentage in 1973.
The Cardinals traded Carbo and pitcher Rick Wise to the Red Sox for outfielder Reggie Smith and pitcher Ken Tatum on Oct. 26, 1973.
Two years later, in the 1975 World Series against the Reds, Carbo joined former Cardinal Chuck Essegian of the 1959 Dodgers as the only players to hit two pinch-hit home runs in one World Series.
Limited options
After batting .287 for the 1978 Indians, Carbo, 31, became a free agent and “was shocked to find there was hardly any demand for his services,” according to The Sporting News.
The Cardinals were the only club to make him an offer. Carbo said, “I was depressed very, very much” by the lack of interest. “It hurts that nobody wants you.”
The reason the Cardinals took a chance was because of Carbo’s history with general manager John Claiborne, who’d been a Red Sox administrator.
With Lou Brock in left, Tony Scott in center and George Hendrick in right, Carbo was a backup for the 1979 Cardinals. He seldom played and hit .281 in 64 at-bats. In July, he showed up late for a game and got into an argument with manager Ken Boyer. Fined and told to stay out of uniform, Carbo apologized the next day and was reinstated.
In 1980, Carbo again opened the season as a Cardinals reserve, but he hit .182 in 11 at-bats and got released in May.
Demons and drugs
In September 1985, Hernandez was called to testify in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in the trial of a man accused of dealing drugs. Under oath, Hernandez said Carbo introduced him to cocaine in 1980.
Hernandez testified he used cocaine from 1980 to 1983 and played in one game for the Cardinals while under the influence of the drug. “It was a demon in me, an insatiable urge,” Hernandez said. Hernandez said other cocaine users on the Cardinals were Carbo, Joaquin Andujar, Lary Sorensen and Lonnie Smith, the New York Times reported.
Asked about Hernandez’s testimony, Carbo told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “He’s saying this to save his own career. He wants to put the blame on somebody else … He’s the one with the problem, spending big bucks on stuff like that.”
Twenty-five years later, in a 2010 interview with ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” program, Carbo said he sought to hire someone in 1985 to break the arms of Hernandez.
“I knew some people, and I had $2,000, and I asked them to break his arms,” Carbo said to ESPN.
According to the New York Post, Carbo changed his mind when told he likely would be implicated in any attack on Hernandez.
Carbo told ESPN, “When I went to an individual to have it done, he said, ‘We’ll do it in two or three years if you want it done, but we’re not going to do it today, Bernie. If we went and broke his legs today, or broke his arms, you don’t think they would understand that you are the one that had it done?’ ”
Carbo told ESPN he wanted to apologize to Hernandez for getting him started on cocaine. “I would tell Keith Hernandez I’m sorry that I introduced you to the drug and I’m sorry that I was your problem,” Carbo said.
Hernandez told Newsday, “He doesn’t owe me an apology.”
Getting clean
In a 2001 interview with The Sporting News, Carbo said, “I was a drug addict and alcoholic for 28 years.” He said he “did cocaine when I was 22 or 23, and got into crystal meth, Dekedrines, Benzedrines, Darvons, codeine. There wasn’t much that I didn’t do.”
Carbo said to ESPN, “I was addicted to the point where I couldn’t play without the drugs.”
After Carbo was implicated in the drug trial, his mother committed suicide and his father died two months later. Carbo told ESPN, “I felt at that time I was responsible for my mother’s death.”
In 1992, Carbo wanted to take his own life. “I really didn’t have any hope or any reason to live any longer, so I was really contemplating suicide,” he said.
Carbo later wrote a book, “Saving Bernie Carbo,” and said he overcame his addiction to drugs and alcohol with the help of the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT) and with the encouragement of former players Ferguson Jenkins, Bill Lee and Sam McDowell.
In an April 2018 interview with The Detroit News, Carbo speculated clubs knew of his substance abuse problems during his playing days. “I think that’s why I got traded so many times,” he said. “I got traded every two or three years. They were probably aware of my wrongdoings.”
One odd thing about Hernandez and his cocaine problem: He didn’t miss many games from 1980-83.
Good point. He played in almost every game in those years.
The main thing is that he turned it around, survived and, by all accounts, is a really great guy.
But nearly hiring some goons to break Keith’s arms…that is some dark, wild stuff.
The Cocaine-Cards: I remember thinking, ‘what the hell is wrong with this clubhouse?’
Thanks for the comments. It is amazing Keith Hernandez and Bernie Carbo both survived those dark times.
Slightly off-topic, but I’ve always thought that in 1979, if Ted Simmons hadn’t missed a month with an injury, he could have been the league MVP. That could have resulted in a Cooperstown speech sometime in the 1990s.
It was definitely within the realm of possibility, but Joe Morgan was just phenomenal that year.
Regardless, Simba should be in.
1979 was the year of Hernandez/Stargell MVP.
Good point. Ted Simmons hit 26 home runs with 87 RBI in 123 games in 1979. He was batting .321 with 18 homers and 52 RBI _ definitely on pace for MVP consideration _ when he suffered a fractured left wrist in June and missed a month of the season. The time off hurt. He hit .230 in August and .239 in September. Here is a posting on Ted’s mighty first half of 1979: https://retrosimba.com/2012/06/29/ted-simmons-yadier-molina-cards-catchers-with-pop/
Right you are! I referenced 1976 thinking it was 1979.
I was at a juvenile justice seminar several years ago where Ken Reitz spoke to us about his addiction. Reitz was a rep for a juvenile rehab center in the local area at that time. He said that he was already drinking heavily when he was introduced to coke by Keith on a team flight. Keith showed him how to do it and Reitz went into the restroom and took the coke from a vile and proceeded to snort it all. When he returned to his seat Keith asked him where the rest of coke was. Reitz told him that he had snorted it. Keith was incredulous and said, “you just snorted $2000 dollars worth of coke”.
Wow! Thank you for sharing these insights.