CC Sabathia has been public about his battle with alcoholism since he checked into rehab in October 2015 — including an HBO documentary that dug deeper into his struggles earlier this year.
Now, the former Yankees ace is peeling back the curtains some more, revealing more details in his new book, “Till The End” about how his dependency on drinking affected his life in and outside baseball.
Among the most notable excerpts includes a story of how Sabathia got blackout drunk during Jay-Z’s 40th birthday party at a resort in the Dominican Republic in which only 50 guests were invited.
In the excerpt, obtained by the New York Post, Sabathia said he promised his wife, Amber, he wouldn’t drink on the trip.
“Drinking helped with my nerves, so I figured drinking more had to help more,” he writes. “Once I got started, I didn’t know when to stop. People told me later that the party finally ended at 5 a.m. I don’t remember. What I do remember is Amber waking me up.
“…Amber came out and found me face down on a lounge chair, passed out, completely naked. Someone had covered my butt with a beach towel. Fortunately, none of the other guests mentioned it. I don’t like to think about who else may have seen me out there.”
It is one of several stories Sabathia recalls on how alcohol nearly derailed not just his career, but his life.
Another story includes how he showed up drunk to a football practice for one of their sons in 2012 and his wife, Amber, kicked him out of the house after he drank another bottle of vodka — and found text messages sent to another woman — when he got home.
The burly southpaw got into his car and drove through a 10-foot-high steel fence on a neighbor’s front lawn.
Sabathia managed to keep the incident private by convincing the neighbor to not call the police and paying for the repair.
Sabathia also recalled another incident in 2009, his first year with the Yankees, about how he got too drunk with some old Indians teammates in his first road trip back to Cleveland.
The pitcher bumped into a woman, who spilled her drink on him, which prompted an altercation.
“People were pushing and shoving and cursing,” Sabathia writes. “Cliff Lee was pulling on me: ‘Come on! We got to go!’ So then I started trying to fight Cliff. He wound up punching me in the face just to get me in the car.”
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