The news that New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia is checking himself into alcohol rehab right as his team begins postseason play tonight was disheartening to hear. Forget the fact that the Yanks will be without a much needed pitcher who has gotten better as the season has gone on, Sabathia has always been a good guy who needs to get his life back on track—no matter when, where or how he does it.
As someone who watched CC come up with the Cleveland Indians as a youngster, here’s to hoping he gets things straight and returns to the form that helped win him a Cy Young Award.
With someone of his stature, it’s natural for details to leak out about what’s been going on with him, and ESPN released a story that might have given some warning signs to CC’s teammates that he might need some help, with the story talking about the lefty hurler being drunk in the clubhouse during the team’s rainout this past Friday, per ESPN:
“After the Yankees’ game with the Baltimore Orioles was rained out on Friday afternoon, Sabathia was seen by reporters walking unsteadily as he left the Yankees’ clubhouse. The normally affable pitcher also failed to respond to the greetings of reporters who have known him for a long time.
A short time later, an onlooker noticed Sabathia offering a paper cup containing a brown liquid to a teammate who was finishing up a workout, urging the teammate to “take a sip.” The teammate refused, saying he still had some running to do. Sabathia was then ushered out of the building and into a waiting cab by a third teammate.”
This comes after an earlier report in the New York Post suggesting that Sabathia was on a “weekend-long bender” during the road trip to Baltimore, adding, per the New York Post:
“His drinking got really bad this weekend, and it put him in a really bad place,” said a source close to the team.
“He was afraid. He felt that if I don’t do this now and go into rehab, I don’t know what is going to happen.”
Who knows if or how much of all this is true, but, as mentioned, hopefully CC Sabathia can get things back on track and he can strikeout booze like he’s been striking out batters during his playing days.
[H/T Deadspin, ESPN, New York Post]