Carbo: I planned to have Hernandez's arms broken
SNY broadcasters and former New York Mets, Ron Darling, left, and Keith Hernandez, give a pre-game broadcast before the Mets-Marlins game. (September 9, 2009) Credit: Kathy Kmonicek
Bernie Carbo tried to hire someone to break Keith Hernandez's arms, the former major-leaguer told ESPN for an "Outside the Lines'' interview set to air in full Sunday morning.
"The truth? I knew some people, and I had $2,000, and I asked them to break his arms,'' Carbo said of his plan, a reaction to Hernandez's testimony in a 1985 trial in Pittsburgh that Carbo - a former teammate - had introduced him to cocaine.
"When I went to the 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?' ''
Hernandez, a Mets broadcaster, declined to comment before last night's game in Miami.
Carbo, who has admitted to drug use during his career - including when he pinch hit a tying three-run homer in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series to set up Carlton Fisk's famous homer in the 12th - said, "If I was to be with Keith Hernandez today, 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, 62, said he has been sober for 16 years. "Nobody did as many drugs as I did,'' he said. "I was taking mescaline. I was taking cocaine. Crystal meth. Smoking dope and taking pills and drinking. I felt that even though I hit this home run and I reached a place in my life that I dreamed about, it didn't bring me any happiness."
With David Lennon
