BRUNSWICK

Bernie Carbo knows a bit about hitting a baseball. He knows a whole lot about what God can do for someone.

Carbo, a former Major League Baseball star who starred for the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 World Series — and whose career was cut short due to addictions — will offer his perspectives on both during an upcoming visit to Brunswick. Carbo, who runs the Diamond Club Ministry with his wife, Tammy, will provide free hitting clinics for boys and girls at 6 p.m. on June 28 at Bowdoin Central School and at 9:30 a.m. on June 29 at Brunswick High School.

The Carbos will be the guests of Berean Baptist Church of Brunswick, which will host a free cookout at 5 p.m. on June 29. He will wrap up his Brunswick appearances with a personal testimony at the gazebo on the mall in downtown Brunswick at 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 30.

Contacted at his Florida home, Carbo said he believes “young people need to hear the truth.”

“Too often,” he said, “we try to dress up the Gospel and make it interesting, often watering it down. Kids today need to know what the Bible says and why they believe what they believe. They need to know that the Word of God is the truth from cover to cover. Every word is truth. We need to give them something to stand on, then they will not fall.”

Carbo, who won the 1970 National League Rookie of the Year Award with the Cincinnati Reds, slugged two pinch-hit home runs for the Sox in the classic ’75 Series, which they lost to the Reds in seven games. The left-handed hitter who wore No. 1 and featured the classic inside-out swing tailor made for Fenway Park’s Green Monster is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

His second pinch-hit homer, with two outs and two on in the eighth inning of Game 6, made Carlton Fisk’s memorable 12th-inning homer possible. In typical Carbo fashion, he said of the blast: “Thirty-eight years later, God still uses that game for his glory. My joke is that I put Carlton Fisk into the Hall of Fame.”

Carbo referred to statements made to him by two of the best hitters in baseball history.

“Stan Musial once told me to see the ball and hit it hard,” he said. “Ted Williams told me to see the ball, get a good pitch and hit it hard. I agree!”

Along with Bill “The Spaceman” Lee and Ferguson Jenkins, Carbo was part of the free-spirited “Buffalo Heads.” Carbo did drugs and alcohol during that ’75 Series, and eventually wound up in a Florida rehab center two decades later. He has since dedicated his life to God, and tours the country with the Diamond Club Ministry.

“God does not care about our personal glory, the Bible is very clear about doing everything for His glory alone,” Carbo said. “Our rewards will be in heaven. I cannot wait to see Jesus and lay my crown at His feet.”

The Rev. Mark Rockwood, pastor at Berean Baptist, said that he once wore No. 1 in Little League, to copy Carbo. Rockwood became acquainted with Carbo’s ministry from a friend who works as a chaplain in Plymouth, Mass., where Carbo has visited.

“So many people get enamored with the game,” Rockwood said, “and sometimes don’t realize the toll it takes on our personal lives. God is not impressed with Heisman Trophies, or personal glory. Those talents are given to everybody by God. There’s going to be a time when people’s professional careers come to an end, and then what do you have?”

As Rockwood related it, Carbo helps kids understand how to be an athlete, and at the same time have a personal relationship with God.

Rockwood is encouraging youth baseball and softball coaches to take their players to the hitting clinics at Bowdoin Central School and at Brunswick High. No reservations are needed.

“He will share some testimony, but mainly it’s hitting clinics,” Rockwood said. “He’s not going to just ram it down their throats. We want to make this outreach to the community, to bless our community.”

lgrard@timesrecord.com