Red Sox Hero Shares Tales of Baseball, Drug Addiction, to Chelmsford Library Patrons

Everyone remembers Carlton Fisk’s famous home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, but that home run wouldn’t have happened without a home run in the ninth inning of that game by a man who spoke at the Chelmsford Public Library last month.

Red Sox legend and motivational speaker Bernie Carbo was met by a packed house along with UMass Lowell professor Dr. Peter Hantzis to talk about their book, “Saving Bernie Carbo,” as well as a variety of other topics ranging from baseball to fighting drug addiction through the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Carbo is no stranger to the Greater Lowell area, having spoken to groups Lowell Hellenic Institute in 2009, an event Chelmsford resident George Eliopoulos still remembers.

“He’s a very good motivational speaker, it’s refreshing to hear someone that turned his life around, especially in the world of sports where it’s so competitive,” said Eliopoulos at the library event. “I think people who have the same problems might have been heartened by what he said, so they can turn their life around.”

A major league baseball player from 1969 to  1980, a series of tragedies and addiction to drugs caused to hit rock bottom in the late 1980s before becoming a Born-Again Christian, documented in the book, which he discusses with groups like the one at the library ranging from churches to prisons.

“My life has changed, I was a drug addict and an alcoholic for the first 48 years of my life, and I’ve been clean for 20 years. It’s been a long journey, and a tough journey,” said Carbo. “This was a fantastic event; everyone at the library was very generous. It was great being able to tell baseball stories, stories about the greatest game of all time and the greatest story of all time: Jesus Christ.”

Carbo’s book is available on Amazon as well as at his website, www.berniecarbo.com.