New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia says he made a bad decision in getting mixed up in an altercation with some hecklers outside a Toronto nightclub early Saturday morning.
Sabathia was restrained before the war of words got physical and left the scene in a cab prior to when the confrontation erupted into a full-scale brawl, as captured by TMZ cameras. See footage embedded below.
The Yankees visited Toronto this past weekend for a three-game series with the Blue Jays, with whom they are jockeying for supremacy in the American League East. The Bronx Bombers won two out of three at the Rogers Centre after recently being swept by the Jays at Yankee Stadium. Going into tonight’s action, the Yankees have a half game lead over the Jays.
Sabathia, 35, was supposed to be on the mound tonight at home against the Minnesota Twins, but he was scratched. Manager Joe Girardi claims that rescheduling Sabathia to a Tuesday night start had nothing to do with the nightclub incident and was just a matter of giving CC another day’s rest.
“It’s unclear what sparked the fight — witnesses tell us hecklers were yelling ‘Go Blue Jays’ — but Sabathia definitely looks like he WANTS to jump into the fray. Ultimately, a friend shoved him into a cab and he got outta Dodge. Good thing too… ’cause the fight was insane,” TMZ explained .
The lefty pitcher, who is listed at six-foot-seven and about 300 pounds, and earns $25 million a year, acknowledged to ESPN today that he “flipped out” in the encounter.
“It was a bad decision on my part. I probably should’ve kept quiet and got in a cab. I’m just glad I ended up getting in the cab before everything went down. I didn’t know that big fight happened afterward. It was just a bad decision on my part.”
Cops responded to the scene about 3 a.m., but “everyone involved in the brawl had scattered by the time officers got to the scene,” the Toronto Sun reported .
CC Sabathia has a record of 4-9, with a 5.23 ERA, so far this season. Over a 15-year MLB career, the hurler has compiled a 212-128 mark, with a 3.70 ERA.
The Yankees star admitted to the New York Post that the worst part of the encounter was having to explain what happened to his son.
“It’s tough because I have a 12-year-old now and he has a cell phone and he’ll see this and I got to explain this to him. That’s the toughest part: ‘Dad had a bad night. Made a bad decision. Sometimes these things happen.’”
[Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images Sport]
