If a picture is worth a thousand words, the photograph of a euphoric CC Sabathia told a secret tale of dark despair.
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When the New York Yankees sealed their ticket to the American League wildcard game, which was subsequently lost this week to the rampant Houston Astros, Sabathia was in the thick of the party.
The 35-year-old pitcher had ordered magnums of champagne which were promptly sprayed all over the locker room, a release of joy at the end of another interminably long baseball season.
Pictures of a drenched Alex Rodriguez (‘SPRAY ROD’ was the brilliant headline in one of the New York tabloids) accompanied ones of the 2009 World Series winning star.
Yet, the horrible irony of the images were to remain a secret until the evening before the Astros arrived in the Big Apple. Sabathia’s struggles with addiction had reached the point of no return.
“I need help,” he courageously told manager Joe Girardi. Battling knee problems, clearly, haven’t been the only barriers standing in his way.
The demon drink had its vice-like grip all over Sabathia, and now was time to challenge it head-on in rehab. His season was over. For the player himself and the franchise as a whole, it was a bitter blow from which they never recovered.
The Yankees have struggled all year with options from the mound. They needed all the help they could get. Sabathia was being wrapped in cotton wool with the hope of bigger things to come. Yet the man who won the World Series in the first of a seven-year, $161 million deal has slowly been falling into the deepest of holes.
Perhaps the respect and love shown for him in the clubhouse has allowed him to reach this point without his troubles properly rising to the surface.
The warning signs had certainly been flashing for a while – an altercation outside a Toronto nightclub raised suspicions this past August, while his losing his mind at Newark airport staff last December after being told his party couldn’t board a flight because they were late, spoke of a man teetering on the edge.
It all came to a head, however, during the final road trip of the season in Baltimore. Seated in the Four Seasons Hotel, Sabathia drank through the day and night, reaching the point of no return.
#Yankees GM Brian Cashman applauds & commends CC Sabathia’s decision to enter an alcohol rehab center https://t.co/q4ClkHwn4U
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 5, 2015
“I love baseball and I love my team-mates like brothers, and I am also fully aware that I am leaving at a time when we should all be coming together for one last push toward the World Series,” Sabathia said.
“It hurts me deeply to do this now, but I owe it to myself and to my family to get myself right. I want to take control of my disease, and I want to be a better man, father and player.”
While there has been understandable swathes of sympathy headed his way, life on the road as a professional baseball star must rank as one of the toughest gigs in sport.
Yes, the salary pocketed by Sabathia is gargantuan – he is under contract with the Yankees through next season, at $25m a year, along with a $25m option in 2017, providing he stays fit.
The mental strength, however, needed to deal with a relentless 162-game season with barely a break to breathe is astounding. The constant playing-travelling-playing tests the resolve like no other.
The scheduling is so grueling that after such a marathon campaign, the wildcard game is a straight one-match shootout for a place in the divisional playoffs.
We Stand with @CC_Sabathia he has continuously supported the kids & many families here with @MistahFAB and friends. Good man. #Oaktown
— MC HAMMER (@MCHammer) October 6, 2015
Naturally, fantastic drama and electric atmospheres ensure – the Yankees v Astros saw ESPN’s best baseball viewing figures this term.
Baseball has long-been trumpeted as a marathon – not a sprint. The do-or-die nature, while keeping alive what can become a monotonous drudge of matches for the last few weeks of the season, certainly goes against the grain of traditionalism.
Introduced in 2012, the playoff system means that either the second or third-best team in baseball (record-wise) will only play in a winner-takes-all shoot-out – the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Mets began their five-match series on Friday, despite worse records and weaker divisions.
Shortening the season is certainly an option, yet so desperate are the MLB to flog their product that, as wet weather battered the East Coast last week, teams were ridiculously forced to play doubleheaders the following day if their matches had been cancelled.
The next time Premier League footballers complain of burnout, think about that.
NHL
While his team-mates at Anaheim Ducks were getting ready to take on the San Jose Sharks, a court case was taking place regarding Clayton Stoner’s involvement in the death of a grizzly bear.
Stoner was pictured in 2013 with the severed head of the bear which, understandably, caused outrage in British Columbia with local residents and animal-protection groups who had named the animal ‘Cheeky.’
The defenseman has been charged with five counts under the Wildlife Act, including making a false statement to obtain a hunting license, hunting out of season, hunting without a license and unlawfully possessing dead wildlife.
12 members of Bears Matter gathered outside court ahead of court date for Anaheim Ducks defenceman Clayton Stoner pic.twitter.com/JCxwOGy4T4
— Global BC (@GlobalBC) October 9, 2015
The fury hurled towards him isn’t diminishing.
“Clayton Stoner, he’s recognized internationally, he’s an NHL hockey player, he makes millions of dollars,” said Barb Murray, a member of Bears Matter, a group who protest against trophy hunting.
“He’s supposed to be an example of what a sportsman (embodies). And he’s not.”
Stoner has previously defended his hunting trip with his father, an uncle and a friend. Even his staunchest supporters, however, cannot bear to be sympathetic.
