An outfielder, Carbo was the Cincinnati Reds' first selection (16th overall) in the inaugural 1965 draft, ahead of Johnny Bench, and his first major league hit was a home run.

Carbo was selected Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News, but he slumped in the next two seasons and was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals.

After the 1973 season in late October, St. Louis traded Carbo and Rick Wise to the Boston Red Sox for Reggie Smith and Ken Tatum.

[3] He said of coming to Boston: "When I first met [Red Sox owner] Mr. Yawkey, he was shining shoes in the clubhouse," said Carbo, "and I went up to him and gave him $20 and told him to get me a cheeseburger and fries."

While playing for the Red Sox, he was a part of the "Buffalo Heads", with Bill "Spaceman" Lee and Ferguson Jenkins.

Carbo would also carry around a giant stuffed gorilla that was named Mighty Joe Young.

Carbo did not join his teammates for batting practice at Tufts University because he said he couldn't find it.

In Game 6 (October 21), with two outs and two batters on base in the eighth inning, Roger Moret was scheduled to bat.

[4]Carbo's pinch three-run home run tied the score 6-6, paving the way for Carlton Fisk's game-winning homer in the bottom of the twelfth for a 7-6 Red Sox victory.

Game 7, watched by an estimated 71 million TV viewers, saw the Reds triumph in the ninth inning on a bloop single by Joe Morgan for a 4-3 win.

Carbo's Game 6 home run was later inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2004 as a memorable moment.

New owners Haywood Sullivan and Buddy LeRoux hired a private detective to follow Carbo.

In 1989–90, while playing in a senior league in St. Petersburg, Florida, Carbo hit rock bottom.

Dalton Jones, a member of the Red Sox 1967 Impossible Dream team, took one look at Carbo and said, "You need Jesus.

He led the Pelicans to the championship series in the independent Southeastern League in 2003, losing to the Baton Rouge RiverBats.

Carbo resigned in February 2006, in order to return full-time to Diamond Club Ministry.

[7] In 1985, in a federal drug distribution trial, former Cardinal Keith Hernandez said Carbo was the man who introduced him to cocaine in 1980.

[citation needed] On April 1, 2010, in an interview with the Boston Globe, Carbo admitted to doing drugs during the 1975 World Series.