Some retired athletes have let themselves go in retirement, but an American sports legend looks more taken than he has ever been in his career.
Former Major League Baseball star CC Sabathia turned his life around and tore to shreds after his career ended.
Sabathia played 19 years in the MLB, starting at 20 for the Cleveland Indians, before a short stoppage at the Milwaukee Brewers and ending with more than a decade at the New York Yankees.
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Six-time All-Star and 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner, Sabathia has never really been a heart-wrenched champion that many people associate with an elite athlete.
In 2011, his third year with the New York Yankees, he weighed 142 kg with a body mass index that called him “morbidly obese.”
But in June, he revealed via Men’s Health that he always wanted to lose all of his weight when he retired from baseball.
Sabathia, 39, spent much of her later years in New York City battling a recurring knee injury and started working on her weight in 2014.
In 2018, he switched to a vegan diet after knee surgery and returned for his final season after dealing with a blocked artery.
But the former Yankees pitcher also opened up about his battle with alcohol which plagued him throughout his career.
Addressing page six, Sabathia opened up about her role with myrelationshipwithalcohol.com, having just celebrated six years of sobriety.
He only rocked alcoholism in 2015 after signing up for rehab while his team played in the final series of the season.
The Yankees made the playoffs in 2015 but were eliminated in the Wild Card game against Houston.
And Sabathia said it hasn’t been easy.
“Healing is a daily struggle. It’s something we experience every day being addicted to alcohol, ”he told Page Six.
“But I feel like I can help people and try to point you in the right direction (with) this website.”
Sabathia said he turned to alcohol after signing a $ 161 million deal with the Yankees in 2008.
But he added that he had many weak points, including wasted holidays and Christmases.
“It’s really very difficult to play professional sport,” he explained.
“There’s always that stress, but I played the game sober and played it while I was drinking. I was much nicer while I was sober.
“(I) would take advantage of my teammates, wake up early in the morning and enjoy the city I was traveling to, but I was drinking early in my career. I would drink all night, wake up all night, and wake up just in time to go to the bus.
“I have never been able to see all the cities in which I have been able to play. When I came out of rehab, I made it a point to enjoy every road trip and to enjoy my teammates and to enjoy the cities I was able to travel to. ”
Now 41 years old and retired, Sabathia gives back to the community.
“Once you take that first step, there are so many different paths and so many different things you can do.
“I meet people every day and they tell me that they have been sober for 10 years, 13 years, 10 days. I’m happy when people come to tell me that, it inspires me to continue too.
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