WATCH – Trailer for new doc “Under the Grapefruit Tree” –

Dec. 21, 2020 – That painful period, and Sabathia’s road to the big leagues, are featured in the new documentary “Under the Grapefruit Tree,” which premieres on HBO Tuesday. Today, Sabathia says he has a new outlook on life — and life after baseball. 

2020 has been such a strange year. You retired one year before the pandemic and everything that has gone on. How are you?

Good, good. Thank you. Thanks for asking. My family’s doing well. We’ve blessed during this time, you know, not having anybody sick so far. So I’m just going to hopefully continue to be safe. And you know, we can get through this and, you know, be good on the other side.

A lot of retired athletes are so used to the grind and having their schedule mapped out down to the minute sometimes. What have you been doing with this extra time? You know what, it’s been good, actually, you know, I have four kids, so spending the time with them. My oldest plays baseball, so, I’m on the road a lot with him. You know, even during this pandemic, they play pretty much all summer. So, you know, there’s been a lot of time with him, I work out a lot. And just like, enjoy being a dad. Like you said, our time is mapped out for so much of our lives while we’re playing, that, I think it’s good to not be on the schedule for a little while.

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