We have all fought demons. Some of these demons more brutal than others. CC Sabathia fought off many of these demons, ones we can only imagine and others we may have faced ourselves. He likely fought some demons as a kid, when his father, Corky, went through his own battles of addiction. And his new HBO documentary, "Under the Grapefruit Tree" burns a spotlight on his fears and addiction to alcohol, in a way we may not have expected.
“When we grow up in the hood, people were always telling us: ‘Don’t cry’ and ‘Don’t be a punk.’ and ‘You can’t show no emotions,’ things like that,” Sabathia told the Daily News. “So then, you end up suppressing everything. And then, you never deal with anything. And then, you get to be an adult and you break down,” said Sabathia as written by the New York Daily News.
We may remember that just before the playoffs in 2015, Sabathia stepped quietly into rehab because it all became too much. In the documentary, "Sabathia tells his autobiographical tale as something of a visualized personal essay about his celebrated baseball career — self-narrated, but buttressed with footage of his career and testimony from his loved ones," reported the News.
Facing divorce, and addiction as an adolescent, and later facing the death of his father, Sabathia's life was not an easy road. But baseball and his wife, a true life partner and high school sweetheart, kept him afloat. Sabathia's wife, Amber, took on the role of executive producer of the documentary, keeping the story real and raw, which makes the film an ethnographic study of a man who faced challenge and struggled to cope as his family watched and lived through his trauma firsthand.
"CC was in the spotlight. I couldn’t just go to the Yankees and tell them he had a problem, right? Because it’s his job. I never wanted to affect his career,” said Amber. She admits that “it was hard not having someone that can kind of have my back and try and get him help” in the sport," reported the News.
Now knowing the struggles, while on the field, really makes me admire him more. CC has always been the guy to defend the Yankees' honor. His “That’s for you, b---h!” will live in infamy. And if it is possible, I feel closer to the guy that battled with us and for us. Catch the documentary on HBO and share your thoughts.
--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof
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