Selfish. It’s a term us common folk love to slap on athletes. Sometimes out of jealousy and at times probably justified. The definition of the adjective is “devoted to or caring only for oneself; primarily with one’s own interests.”
If you type CC Sabathia’s name in a search query on any social media platform or the New York Yankees blog it won’t be long until you see the word “selfish.”
On Monday, Sabathia shocked the baseball world when he announced that he is entering rehab for at least 30 days and will miss the entire MLB post-season.
NYC sports talk radio has since been dominated by discussion of what Sabathia’s responsibility is to the organization that gainfully employs him.
A big part of Yankees fans’ scorn comes from the value lost to their post-season roster. Despite his 6-10 record with a 4.73 ERA, Sabathia battled through knee and shoulder issues and was a bright spot for New York down the stretch. He was the only Yankees pitcher to win in the season’s last week, beating the Red Sox 4–1 as New York finished the season 1-6. The 35-year-old Sabathia made 29 starts this season, the most on the team. His ERA was 2.86 from August 1 on, and in his last five starts it was 2.17.
In his team-issued statement, CC spoke about “self” prominently: “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.”
He further explained: “I am checking myself into an alcohol rehabilitation centre to receive the professional care and assistance needed to treat my disease.” The key word is disease. Would this be a discussion if he were leaving the team to treat cancer, the way Flip Saunders and Chuck Pagano were lauded for doing in other sports?
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There is an inherent double standard in the scrutiny of Sabathia’s choice.
Many were skeptical when Johnny Manziel’s off-season rehab stint conveniently started and ended in a time frame that allowed him not to miss any of the Cleveland Browns’ off-season team activities. The criticism was strong when Jon “Bones” Jones left rehab after one night to watch his brother Arthur play in the NFL AFC championship game with the Colts. Jones at the time felt he only needed “outpatient treatment” and “education.”
So if those athletes were criticized for putting the long, constant struggle of rehab in a very template-able box, doesn’t it stand to reason that Sabathia should be lauded and praised for tackling the problem head-on, no matter how inconvenient the timing?
Yet the timing is the reason for criticism, as presumably being an alcoholic isn’t something that just creeps up on you and he could have made this decision well ahead of 24 hours before the post-season.
Announced one day before their do-or-die wild-card game with the Astros isn’t ideal timing, but what CC Sabathia is dealing with is truly do or die.
Sports fans often point to the poor role modelling that the personal choices of athletes like Manziel and Jones provides. Sabathia’s statement suggests that his decision was about more than just himself. “Being an adult means being accountable. Being a baseball player means that others look up to you. I want my kids—and others who may have become fans of mine over the years—to know that I am not too big of a man to ask for help. I want to hold my head up high, have a full heart and be the type of person again that I can be proud of. And that’s exactly what I am going to do.” Sabathia’s priorities start with being a good father of four, not being one of the Yankees’ starting four.
Sabathia is no longer one of the best pitchers in the game, and hasn’t been for years, but he has found a home pitching in the high 80s–low 90s and was one of the few Yankees pitchers with extended post-season experience. For all those reasons Yankees fans should be happy that the guy they owe more than $50 million to over the next two years is taking care of himself so that he’ll be on the field for the life of the contract.
The scrutiny of a player in the New York limelight is strong. Sabathia learned that earlier in the year when paparazzi photographed him smoking on a hotel balcony in Atlanta, and rumours swirled that the substance in his hand was marijuana. There was also a video of him outside a Toronto club one night this past summer when the Yankees were in town, agitating for a fight.
All of this is an added distraction that his teammates don’t need when the barrage of media is already at its height.
“Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing,” George Steinbrenner once famously professed. The Boss wasn’t wrong but even he’d admit that alcoholism is a deadly disease and Sabathia has to make winning that fight the most important thing in his life. Right now CC Sabathia is being selfish. Oddly enough that’s the most selfless thing he can do for his nuclear and Yankee family.
