CC Sabathia once readied himself for jibes from fans after coming out of rehab after defeating alcohol addiction

Former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia was a star player on the field. Unfortunately, his storied MLB career was marred by alcohol. The low point of his drinking is detailed in "Under the Grapefruit Tree".

He quit the 2015 season in early October to enter rehab, just as the Yankees were finishing up their final games of the regular season.

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Sabathia prepared himself for heckles from fans after coming out of rehab after battling addiction. As reported by the New York Post in 2015, he said:

“I’ll be fine. I have heard worse (stuff) before. It is what it is. They call me fat and call me an alcoholic. Whatever. I am.’’

2012 was when Sabathia learned that the problem was serious:

“I guess I can go back and say at the end of 2012, I kind of realized I had a problem with drinking, kind of admitted I was alcoholic. In between that three-year span, I would put two to three months together of being sober."

He continued:

"But I would get on the road, and when nobody was looking, I would isolate myself and start drinking. It was binge drinking on the weekend. It was the same kind of thing that happened in Baltimore on that weekend.”

Major League Baseball recruited Sabathia on April 6, 2022, to work as commissioner Rob Manfred's special assistant.

CC Sabathia received "amazing" support from the Yankees

Sabathia became emotional after getting warmth from his Yankees teammates.

“I talked to [Chris Young]. I talked to Dellin [Betances]. I talked to Jeet [Derek Jeter], Andy [Pettitte] and Mo [Mariano Rivera], Alex [Rodriguez] and Prince [Fielder] — all the guys I am close with. Brett [Gardner] called me"

Read:

Yankees’ CC Sabathia announces he will enter alcohol rehab - Bleacher Report

Sabathia earned the Warren Spahn Award three straight times and was chosen as an All-Star six times throughout his career.