Because of the short high school season, American Legion baseball takes on special importance in New England. Carlton played for Claremont in his first year of eligibility, but in 1965 he switched to Bellows Falls Post Five, which had won the Vermont State Championship the previous year. The switch was a positive one for Fisk-Bellows Falls was closer than Claremont and more of a sports town. In one game, so the story goes, Carlton was at the plate and behind in the count, fooled by two consecutive curveballs. When the catcher called for a fastball and was emphatically shaken off by the pitcher, the manager called time and approached the mound. "There's no way I'm throwing him a fastball," the hurler said. But the manager insisted that he throw what the catcher called for, and Fisk hit the next pitch (a fastball) on a line over the center-field fence.

Though he played in less than 100 games as an amateur, Fisk gained the attention of professional scouts. One thought he had potential but told Coach Ryan that his bat wasn't quick enough-his power was mostly to right field. Ryan's response was typically self-effacing: "He'll get better coaches in the minors who can teach him to hit to left." But despite his success in baseball (or, more accurately, his all-around athletic success, as he was named Charlestown High's most valuable player in soccer and basketball as well), Carlton accepted a basketball scholarship to the University of New Hampshire.

The decision to attend UNH was made easier by the presence in Durham of his older brother, Calvin, who was captain of the soccer team and an All-Yankee Conference sweeper. But soon Calvin was drafted by both the Baltimore Orioles and the military. He was twenty-five by the time he returned from Vietnam, too old (according to the Baltimore front office) to embark on a career in professional baseball. Carlton's younger brother Conrad, considered the best pitcher of the Fisk clan, later signed with the Montreal Expos. He was undefeated and threw a no-hitter in the playoffs during his senior year of high school, but an arm injury ended his career prematurely. Cedric, whose scholastic batting average was higher than that of any of his older brothers, didn't pursue athletics beyond high school.

During the winter of 1965-66, Carlton led the UNH freshman basketball team to an undefeated season. While at UNH he also met his future wife, Linda Foust, a native of Manchester, New Hampshire. Then, in January 1966, the Boston Red Sox drafted him in the first round. Fisk was at first suspicious, suspecting that he was the token New Englander the Red Sox had taken to pacify local fans. He ended up signing mainly because he realized "I could never be a six-foot-two power forward and play for the Celtics."

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