New York Yankees fans were shocked when ace pitcher CC Sabathia checked into rehab for alcohol addiction right before the 2015 MLB Postseason began.
Sabathia, 46, opened up to Us exclusively about his journey while in Iowa for Netflix’s exclusive broadcast of the 2026 Field of Dreams game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins. He said that while he was putting together a career that eventually landed him in the Hall of Fame, Sabathia wasn’t addressing issues affecting him off the field.
“My dad passed away in December of 2003. My uncle passed away in April of 2004, and then my cousin passed away in June of 2004. I never dealt with those deaths and those three are the closest people to me in my life,” he said.
Sabathia continued, “When my parents split up, my uncle was the one that stepped in and took me everywhere. He was my coach. He took me to every football practice. His son was the one that passed away. So three huge deaths in my life that I never dealt with, never thought about, and had no problem out on the field. It was everything else after that, trying to deal with that. I guess it all kind of worked out, but it made for some tough years in between with the drinking and stuff.”
The result was years of alcohol slowly taking over his off-field life until a road trip to Baltimore at the end of the 2015 season. After a drinking binge in his hotel room that rolled into the next day, he came to the stunning realization that he was about to throw a bullpen session while drunk.
As Sabathia put it, the deaths he had refused to deal with in the early 2000s “fueled” him on the field, masking their effects. He became a known workhorse through his years with the Cleveland Indians and turned into a highly sought-after free agent that eventually landed with the Yankees on the biggest free agent contract for a starting pitcher in MLB history at the time.
But the money almost wasn’t enough to put Sabathia in pinstripes. The Yankees are the most popular baseball team in the world and he still hadn’t reckoned with losing his baseball mentor, his dad.
“That was the reason why it took me so long to end up signing there because my dad had passed away, and if I showed up in New York and failed? He wasn’t gonna be able to be there to tell me that it was okay,” Sabathia said. “So I think I was a little nervous about taking on that challenge.”
Sabathia quickly learned that it would, in fact, work out. The Yankees won the World Series in 2009, his first season with the club, and he was named MVP of the American League Championship Series after a pair of dominant starts against the Los Angeles Angels.
He went on to pitch 11 seasons in New York and in September, the franchise will retire his No. 52. When it happens, Sabathia will be thinking of his dad.
“He’s the first person that always comes to my mind when I get these accomplishments because he made me believe that it was going to be true,” he said. “So, when I think about myself going into Monument Park or my number going up there, I think his face should be up there.”
