Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Scott Spiezio Opens Up on Addiction, Sobriety & Life After Baseball

Transcript

Scott Spiezio Opens Up on Addiction, Sobriety & Life After Baseball · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I'm Jim Hayes, and we have a special guest today.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: He was a two-time World Series champion, once with the Angels.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: We don't love that one so much. But also with
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. You know him as Speezer.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: It is Scott Speezio. How are you doing, my friend?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Jumbo Jim Hayes, man. How you doing, buddy? That's always great.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: getting to talk with you and reminisce about great times.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: I'm doing good. You're doing great.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: It's been a while. But you have a lot going
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: on right now, and I wanted to ask you about that.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: So your life story and overcoming substance abuse, which derailed
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: you big time, right, is now a documentary set for
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: release on September 10th. So tell me about that.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, you know, even in the midst of my struggles,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I had this feeling that I needed to document this.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: And I taped myself in the middle of some of
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the darkest times. It's in the documentary parts of it.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: I knew that I had to beat it and get
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: through it and share it with people that are going
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: through similar things. And so it's not easy. It's always
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: much easier sometimes. you know, with the book and the
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: documentary to just talk about, you know, the world series
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: and the home runs and, and, you know, my parents
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff. But I just felt that God was,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: was wanting me to share my story and give people
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: hope that are, you know, suffering also to put out
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: a cautionary tale for those that, you know, are young and,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: and have life in front of them, you know, to
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: not make the same mistakes I did. But the biggest
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: thing is that, you know, with, with, the right people
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: around you and faith that you can get, you can
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: make it through anything. And, and that, you know, God
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: made you with the perfect purpose. And it's just trying
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: to figure out what, figure out what that is. And,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: and I figured that me sharing my story and, and,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: and helping others is what my purpose is more so than,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: than even baseball.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: It was a comeback of, of major proportions, just some background, right?
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Scott Spezio fans know him. was a guy who could
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: play a number of positions, right? A guy who always
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: seemed to come up with the clutch hit. Fans loved him.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Used to have the red soul patch. I think it's
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: gray now, but maybe we put it red at some point, right?
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: You're going to put, look, you're coming back to St.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Louis.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: You're going to make it red?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: For sure. For sure. If I go, I'll be in trouble. Yeah.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: That's true. But then you ran into substance. Yeah, go ahead.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: We can do yours too. We can do yours red.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: What do you think?
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: All right, I'll think about it. I'll think about it.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I think you look better in red than I do.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: But outside of baseball, you got involved with alcohol and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: then drugs, and it nearly cost you everything. So background,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: according to my research on the Google machine, we're talking
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: 12 stints in rehab, five arrests, right? And we're talking
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: about a guy who was a popular... productive players. You
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: talk about the dark side. How did the dark side
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: creep into your life, which seemed to be storybook?
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It really was. I went to 11 rehabs in
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: 10 years. What's crazy is my dad had success as
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: a player. Went to three World Series with the Cardinals
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: and won two in 64 and 67. Should have won
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: in 68, but We took care of the Tigers for him.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: You know, we got the rematch in 2006 and won. But,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: you know, my mom and dad, you know, raised me
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: the right way. They took me to church. They were
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: great role models. And I was one of those guys
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: that I remember, you know, I wanted to be a
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: major leaguer my whole life. And, you know, I remember
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: somebody came into our school and said, hey, show me
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: your friends. I'll show you your future. And that really
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: stuck with me, like, I got to make sure that
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: I'm hanging around people that are making good decisions. And
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: so I did that. I was straight as an arrow.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: In high school, I went and talked to grade schools
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. I was what
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: they call a dare guy. I used to talk about
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: drug awareness at local schools. And I did that through college,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: through the minor leagues and major leagues. I even had
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: a dare card made of me in front of one
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: of the dare cars. in Anaheim. And I was the guy,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: you know, I won the Dave Stewart Community Service Award,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: not because I was trying to, just because I was
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: the guy that never said no. In Anaheim, I was
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: the Roberto Clemente nominee in 2003 for the Angels, which
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: is an incredible honor. But I loved being that guy
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: that wasn't out partying all the time and didn't drink,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: never saw a drug until I was 33 years old. And,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: you know, I like to see bands and I like
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: to hang around with people. But, you know, I really
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: hardly ever went out. I hardly ever drank. And then I,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: you know, after the World Series in 2002, I always
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: say I kind of drifted a little bit. For me,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: you know, my faith was huge. And all of a
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: sudden I'm getting asked, you know, after 19 RBIs and
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: a huge home run in Game 6, they're asking me
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: to do a top 10 list for Dave Letterman, Leno Show.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: you know, uh, Monday night football live. I'm on, I'm on, uh,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: sitcoms and acting and, and my band's getting, you know,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: asked to play these big concert venues. And, and it
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: was like, you know, I was a guy that would
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: read the Bible when I go home and all of
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: a sudden I'm not doing that. I started drifting and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: I call it ego. You know, people are telling you
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: how great you are and you kind of, you kind
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: of eat it up, you know, especially in Southern California. And, uh,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: you know, for me, that ego turned into edge and
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: got out and, and that's what I did. And it
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: wasn't intentional. It was just, I had so many things
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: going on. It took me out of my routine and, and, uh,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: I was able to have another good year in 2003
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: and thought the angels would wrap, you know, sign me
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: to a long-term deal, but they went a different direction.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: And so I went to Seattle and signed a three-year deal,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: you know, a big three-year deal with them. And, uh,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: In spring training, I got hurt on a freak play.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I was coming in for a pop-up on the mound.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: I hit the edge of the mound with my heel.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: It jarred my back. I still caught it, but I
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: turned to Richard Reilly. I gave him the ball, and
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: I said, man, I think I blew out my back.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: And sure enough, I had blown out my T6 and
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: T7 thoracic discs. I went to six doctors. They all
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: told me I couldn't play. If I did... Trying to play,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: it would take until June for the fluid to go
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: out of my spinal cord naturally. And then I'd have
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: to do a complex surgery where they would collapse my lung,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: take out a rib, put reinforcement along my spine. And
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: it would be, you know, 5% chance that I could
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: be paralyzed because of the surgery. And so I got depressed.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: I was with a new team. I didn't have that
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: great group of friends around me that held me accountable yet.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: And like I did in Anaheim and Oakland. And I
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: was traveling with the team and I wasn't really worried about,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: you know, before, like if I went out, I'd be
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: worried about what I'd do the next day. So I
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: rarely drank. But now I was traveling with the team
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and not playing. And so they asked me to go
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: out one night and I did. And I was drinking beer,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: you know, having lunch. just, you know, barely sipping it.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: And they took it away from me and put said here,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: have a real man's drink, put it like a Jack
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: and Coke in front of me. And before I could
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: even finish that one, there was a second one in
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: front of me and it started helping me deal with that,
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: that depression and anxiety. And, uh, you know, that first night,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: you know, I might've had four drinks. Next night I
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: had eight, next night I had 16. And before you
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: know it, I'm, I'm creating a habit here. And, and, uh,
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: and when I drink, I became a totally different person. And, and, um,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: you know, I, I quickly unknowingly started becoming an alcoholic, um,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: where I was using that as my counselor, instead of,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: you know, going and seeing somebody to help me with, with,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: you know, the pain and stuff and, and, and the depression. And, um,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: you know, they, the, I finally went to a doctor
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: that said, if you can, your spinal cord is thick enough.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: If you can withstand the pain, then you can play.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: And it was probably the worst thing he could have
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: ever told me. So I did whatever I had to
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: do to, to play. And, uh, you know, had a,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: not a great year and an okay year. Um, and,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: and then the next year they hardly played me. And
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: so then I, I even got crazier because I think
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I only had 40 something at bats and had more
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: injuries that year. And, um, I got released on my
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: career was over, went through a divorce because of bad decisions. Um,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: and then remarried right away to a girl from Southern California.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: That wasn't the greatest influence on me. Um, And later
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: that year, after I got released in November of 2005,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I saw my first drug and tried it. And, um,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: you know, did it every once in a while, but
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: it started becoming a problem, um, late in August of 2006,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: where I did it after, you know, before, well, it
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: was after a game in, in, in, uh, Scottsdale. And, uh,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: It just, I hit two home runs the next day
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: and then I did it again and had another great game.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Didn't do it and struck out three times, which I
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: never do. And then did it again and had another
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: home run. And so it became a thing where I
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: felt like I had to do it throughout, through the season.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: And I kept doing well all the way through the
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: World Series. And then I said I'd stop, but I
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: couldn't by that time. I had created this, this, you know,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: dependency and, It had become a chemical dependency. And, you know,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: by 2007, I had given up everything in my life
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: for two things, and that was drugs and alcohol. Now
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: the crazy thing is I was still doing pretty good
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: on the field. I don't know how. But, you know,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: it was a tough situation for me because I didn't
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: want to tell the Cardinals because I wanted to play.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to lose my job. you know, and
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: I wanted to quit, but I knew if I quit,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: I'd start shaking. I'd become physically dependent on it. And
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: so it was, it was a really tough spot to
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: be in. And, and, um, you know, finally I collapsed and, and,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: and I ended up having to tell the Cardinals and, um,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: you know, it was, it was really tough. You know, I,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I went to rehab. I thought if you go to rehab,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: you're fixed, but that's not how it works. And, and
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: so I came back after 28 days and played, finished
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: the season and, And I wasn't fixed, you know. And
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: it was just a long road after that. You know,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: the Cardinals ended up releasing me in spring training in 2008.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: And it was a long road.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Your teammates knew that there was an issue going on.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask you for names, but, I mean,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I was covering the team and I had heard some things.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: But there were times, if you were being honest, right,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: you were under the influence of alcohol while playing games
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: and still drinking. performing well, right? There were times you
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: were drunk as a.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: Cardinal, right?
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I had to be. I had to be or
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: else I would shake uncontrollably. So, yeah, by 2007, you know, 2006,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: I wasn't, you know, well, I mean, not really. I mean,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: 2007 is when it got bad, where it became a
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: physical dependency and chemical dependency. like if I, if I
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: didn't have some type of alcohol in my system, then
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: I would shake uncontrollably. So, uh, yeah, I had to
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: have alcohol on me at all time. I hit it
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: in water bottles. I'd bring it, you know, put it
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: in my bag and the dugout in my, in my, uh, locker.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I know there was guys that, uh, you know, knew
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: that I was struggling with that. And, and, and at
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: the time it was cocaine. So one was an upper,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: one was a downer. And, um, I had to have
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: both of them on me to make sure I was balanced.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: I remember a time in Houston where I didn't have
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: any alcohol. And so I was scrambling and I asked
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: the clubhouse kids if they had a beer or something, anything.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: And they had a case, like a 24 case of beer.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: So I had to put it in a cooler on
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: ice and hide it in the shower. And between innings,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: I would have to go chug beers in between innings
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: just to stay level. So it was crazy. You know,
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: my tolerance had raised so much that I could be,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: you know, twice the league limit and still be hitting
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: fastballs a hundred miles an hour and doing well. Um,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: which is, I don't know how I did it. You know,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: there was nights where there was times where I stayed up,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: you know, days at a time. Um, cause it was
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: really hard for me to stop, um, I would say, OK, God,
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: get me through this game. I'll stop. And then as
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: soon as the game got over, I'd be like, OK,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I just got to do a little bit to get
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: back to the hotel. And I get to the hotel
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: and I keep doing it. And before you know it,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: it's 10 in the morning. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, like,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: here we are again. You know, it was it was
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: a nightmare. It was it was hell. And I just
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: felt like I couldn't tell anybody. But there was definitely
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: people around me that that knew. And they started reaching
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: out to me. My dad, I know, you know, Troy
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Percival and Edmonds and Eckstein and Kennedy knew the person
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: I was, you know, from the Angel days. And so
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I know they had talked to Tim Meade with the Angels,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: who was our VP of communications, just a great guy.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: And they asked him to reach out to my dad.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: And then my dad, who I wasn't talking to, for years,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: because he couldn't watch me make bad decisions anymore, came
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: back into my life, and what was great is the
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Cardinals brought him in to give me my ring, and that,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: I call that the prodigal son moment, you know, when,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: you know, not opening day, but the next day when
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: we had our ring ceremony, it was the first time
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: I'd seen him in, you know, two plus years, maybe
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: almost three years, and it was the start of the
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: change in my life. It still took you know, another
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: 10 years for me to get totally sober. But there
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: was many times during that that I had periods of sobriety.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: But I couldn't kick it for good until 2018, April
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: of 2018.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: What was it like? Like, I just remember you as
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: a player. You were great to deal with, always in
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: good spirits. But I had heard there were other things
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: going on internally, right? You know that the end is
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: coming at some point and it probably is going to
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: be good. What, what was that like emotionally understanding that you're,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you're doing all the things on the field, but you're
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: probably on borrowed time and you can't really share that
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: with anyone. How difficult is that?
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: It's extremely difficult. You know, you know, I, I wish that,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: you know, I, I knew what I know now back then.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Cause I, I, I know that with, with, the owners
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: of the Cardinals and, and Walt Jockety and even Moseley
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: lock and Tony, if I would have went to them
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: and said, listen, I need, I need, you know, I
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: want to play, but I'm not, I'm like, this is
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: a life or death thing. I need to go away for,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: you know, three months, um, to, to like the middle
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: of Montana or something to a rehab facility and really
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: dig in, you know, um, I think that I would
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: have had a really good chance because my addiction was
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: relatively new, you know, it may be, you know, two years,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: you know, at most or two or three years. So
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: I had, I think I would have had a fighting
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: chance to beat it. But, you know, it's really hard
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: for a team to do that, to say, okay, we're
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: paying you, but we're going to let you take you know,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: two months, the end of two months of the season
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: or whatever. I think I went to him in August. So,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: you know, looking back, I probably should have said, you
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: know what, just send me away for the rest of
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: the season and into the off season and I'll come
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: back a new person. But it's always easy to second guess.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: You know, people have asked me, would you change anything? And,
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: you know, I wish that I could take away the
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: pain that I caused, you know, my teammates, my you know,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: the Cardinals, the organization, of course, my kids and my
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: parents and my family and even my hometown, you know.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: But I probably wouldn't change anything because now, you know,
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: I've learned so much and I've gained empathy for people
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: suffering with addiction or depression or anxiety. And I just
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: feel like that's my mission to help them in any
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: way possible.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: We're talking with Scott Spezio. His story is now a documentary.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: It's an amazing story. Quick break here. You're watching Cardinal
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Territory on the Foul Territory Network.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: Do you remember growing up and seeing that something was
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: sold out and it was literally sold out and you
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: couldn't get a ticket?
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: Yes. That's not a thing anymore. Cried many times over that, Scott.
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: But now we have SeatGeek. Even if it says sold out,
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: you can find that perfect seat for you. Yep.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: The official SeatGeek. ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball is
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: SeatGeek to find that seat for you, whether it's down
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: the stretch, a team that you're following that's going to
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: play postseason ball or whatever you're going to game for.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: You want to see a particular pitcher, eventually playoff tickets,
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: same thing, right?
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Playoff tickets generally sold out.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Don't worry.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: SeatGeek has the spot. Find your green dot. Find the
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: green dot. Red dot, bad deal. Green dot, great deal.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: There's plenty of green dots for whatever game you want.
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: Find it. Buy your tickets and go enjoy the game.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: Code TERRITORY10. 10% off your next set of tickets at SeatGeek.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: That's 10% off any MLB tickets with the promo code TERRITORY10.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Make sure you click the link in the description to
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: download the app, and then the code will automatically be
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: added to your account so that you can use it later.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: So, Scott, you mentioned it earlier. Like, I know you're
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: tight with your dad. That relationship broke down. cost you marriage,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: relationship with your kids. What was the rock bottom? And
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: I understand your story probably has three or four rock bottoms.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: What was rock bottom for you?
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, man. Yeah, there's so many rock bottoms. You know,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: in the big book, it talks about this. You know,
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: they guarantee if you ever if you quit and then
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: you go back out, your rock bottom is going to
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: be further, further down. And it was true. You know,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: it didn't start out that way. You always think you
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: can control. Oh, I'll just drink beer. I'll just have wine. Um,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: but then it eventually it gets you, you know, and,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: and you'll be out one night drinking wine before you
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: know it, you got two bottles in and, and, uh,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: then you're on to shots. And before you know it, the,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: the drugs come in, you know, and, um, you know,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: it was tough. I would say the, the, I mean,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: anytime you get arrested, I would have never in a
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: million years thought I'd get arrested. You know, that's awful. Um,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: you know, having, having my oldest son, started calling me
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Scott because he just didn't, you know, he just didn't
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: see me as somebody that was acting like a dad,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: you know. And that was, you know, seeing my parents
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: ball because they, you know, they come over and see
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: me in the state and didn't know if I would survive,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: you know, overnight. But, you know, I started kicking everything.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: I was able to give power of attorney to my
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: dad and mom because I was selling off everything fast.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: And because of that, they were able to save my memorabilia,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: my World Series rings, some of my watches. My biggest
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: thing is my land and my property where I'm at
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: today and where I actually do lessons as well and
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: am able to make a living from it. But even
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: though because I gave power of attorney over, had no
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: access to any of my accounts, didn't have a car.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: I was able to kick the drug habit, but I
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: was still drinking. I was still manipulating people to bring
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: me alcohol, although it was very cheap, you know, alcohol
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: most of the time. But at that point, you don't care.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: And I wasn't drinking as much, but I think God
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: was like, slapped me on the, on the head and said,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: you're not getting it, man. You gotta, you gotta stop
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: it all or else you're in trouble. And I, I
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: had started having back pains. I went in for an MRI.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: When I came out, I was yellow. I was jaundiced.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: My eyes were yellow. My whole body was yellow. Um,
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I refused to go to the hospital for a day
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: and it got worse. And when I got to the,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: finally got to the hospital, they, they said everything's your,
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: your liver's failing. Your kidneys are failing. You got it.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: you might have a 20% chance to live. And that's
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: where you're like, you know, like I had a probation
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: officer and she had always said, what do you want
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: on your tombstone? And I'm thinking that I'm going to,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: my tombstone is going to say I'm a town drunk,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: you know, like this guy threw everything away for, for
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: alcohol and drugs. And, and, and I'm like, man, that
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: we can't let that happen. And, and, But I had
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: to have tough conversations with my parents and my family
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: about who was going to get what if I didn't
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: make it. And I just never felt so weak. I
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: could barely do anything. I couldn't think straight. And I
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: just cried out to God. I said, God, take away
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: my cravings, and I'll do whatever you tell me to do.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: I'll surrender to you. And that was April 6, 2018.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: And from that day on, I've had zero cravings. I
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: actually feel physically ill when I see vodka or any
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: alcohol in a bottle. I just have no desire for
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: it whatsoever. And it's amazing because when they first told
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: me that if you make it, if you get past
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: these next five days, which is extremely difficult, it's going
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: to be extremely difficult, you're going to have to go
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: six six months without drinking so we can do a
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: liver transplant because you're going to need it. And I'm thinking,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: how am I going to go six months without drinking?
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: You know, to even save my own life. But after
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: that prayer, God took away my cravings. You know, I'm almost,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: we're approaching eight and a half years of sobriety now
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: from everything. And it's, you know, it's just amazing. And
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: not only that, but God also, after four months of,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: Every two weeks, them going, sticking a foot-long needle into
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: my abdomen and sucking out two and a half liters
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: of fluid and going to the best doctors at Northwestern
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Medical in Chicago. They came to me after four months
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: and said, we don't know how to explain it, but
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: your scans are normal. Your blood work is normal. Your
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: liver function, everything is normal. We can't explain it except
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: for that somebody upstairs is looking out for you. So
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: at that point, I knew that God had done two
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: miracles in my life. I mean, he did many miracles,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: but those were, you know, incredible miracles. He took away
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: my cravings and he healed my liver. And I didn't
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: have to do the transplant, which is incredible. That's amazing.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: So your body's healed. I'm glad to know you still
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: have the stuff you earned along the way for your career,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the rings and the watches and stuff. How about relationships
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: like with pop and kids? Have you repaired those?
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. You know, I always, when you're in the
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: midst of it, like, you know, I always say you
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: believe the devil's lies. Like, you know, you're not worthy.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: You're worthless. You threw away your, nobody even knows who
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: you are anymore. You, you know, you threw away your
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: platform to do good. And I believed all that stuff,
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: you know. And I thought, man, my kids are never
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: going to respect me. You know, my parents aren't. They're
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: never going to trust me. And what I did is,
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: you know, I started reading the Bible and I started
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: looking and saying, well, wait a second. David did this
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: in the Bible and, you know, slept with a woman
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: that was married, got her pregnant, sent her husband to
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: the front lines to die. And God still called him
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: a man after his own heart. You know, Moses killed somebody.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Paul wrote, you know, a good part of the New Testament,
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: crucified Christians for years. And so I said, if he
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: can use them, he can use me. And I started
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: just doing little things, you know, for me, it was
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: to go outside, pick up sticks so I can mow
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: the grass, you know, as simple as that. And then
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: once I got the grass, then I started integrating back
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: into the community and calling up old friends, true friends that,
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: wanted to help all along, but they just knew that
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: I wasn't ready. Um, and, and, and from there, then
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: I started, you know, I, I realized that before I,
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: when I'd get sober, I'd tell my kids and my
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: family that I'm, I'm good now, you know, I'm good.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: And so this time I said, I'm not going to
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: tell anybody. I'm going to let them decide when I'm good.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: And so I, I just changed people, places, things. And, uh,
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I started doing little baby steps, started
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: getting back into the Bible, going to church. And I
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: think my parents started realizing that this time there was
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: a definite change. My kids did. And I'm not saying
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: that there's not challenges, but I think I have a
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: deeper relationship with my three boys and my parents and
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: my sisters and my family now. I'm still working hard.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: on things with my daughter. But, you know, I know
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: that God will heal all that. And, you know, I'm
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: just so grateful that I'm able to be here when
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: she's ready. And, you know, it's been incredible, like the
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: outpouring of love and support I've got from different communities.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: It wasn't easy. I was so scared too when I
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: released this book that the book and, and the documentary
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: that I get, you know, some bad feedback, but I,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: I haven't, it's all been incredible, loving and supporting. And,
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: and for those out there that are struggling, never give up.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: It's never too late. I always say, as long as,
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: as long as you got a breath, you gotta, you
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: gotta pen to write a great ending to your story. And, and,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: and that, that's it. You know, it's never too late
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: to mend broken relationships. You just gotta keep, You've got
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: to make sure that you're you first before you start
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: trying to do that.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Our guest is Scott Spezio. Time for our final break.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: You're watching Cardinal Territory on the Foul Territory Network.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: Kratz, I think what people are seeing on the screen
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: and what we'll explain to the podcast audio crowd right
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: now is how I'm a little summer action with Fabletics,
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: and then you take us into fall and a little
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: more layering.
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: And here in the east, I'm still going to go
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: to the shore in the fall. I love the shore
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: in September. You come in from the beach, you throw
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: on a sweatshirt like this, it's light, it's breathable, but
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: you know what? It is so comfortable.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and for me, I love working out, but also
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: I'm getting more into tennis, paddle, a little bit of pickleball,
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: all that. I want lightweight, breathable, comfortable, and affordable.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about that.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: The discounts for Fabletics are massive when you sign up
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: as a VIP. Shop now at fibletics.com slash foul to
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: get 70 to 80% off everything when you sign up
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: as a new VIP, take a quick style quiz. Be
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: sure to select foul when prompted to unlock this offer.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: This is a limited time offer, so don't wait. Again,
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: that's Fabletics.com slash foul for 70 to 80% off everything
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: as a new VIP.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Scott Spezio's story is a remarkable one. It was a book.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Now it's a documentary set for a premiere September 10th.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I know in St. Louis they're going to have a
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: premiere party. So, Scott, tell me how this became a documentary.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: I know you said that you were kind of doing
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: videos during the whole ordeal, but how did it come together.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: As a documentary? Yeah, the girl that I originally asked
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: to write my book said no. She then introduced me
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: to Leslie Kimple. who needed a capstone project for her
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: graduate degree in film school. And I agreed. And she
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: came up and filmed for five days. This was, boy,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: maybe two years ago. And it went well. And then
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: she started reaching out to, you know, people like Rex
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Hudler and Tim Salmon and Eckstein and a bunch of
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: guys and my parents and high school coaches, my pastors, and, uh,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: it came together and I thought, well, maybe, you know,
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: maybe we'll, it'll be good enough to put on YouTube
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: and help some people. And then we started entering it
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: into some film festivals and, and we ended up getting
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: seven laurels for it and, and a lot of attention and, and, uh,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: ended up signing with the distributor, um, and Tyler Sansom and, and, uh,
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: Eric Pave, uh, and, and, uh, it's, it's been, it's
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: been an amazing journey. Um, it, it turned out so good. Um, and,
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: and we're really excited for it to, to help people. Um, yeah,
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: it'll be premiering in St. Louis, the red carpet premiere. Uh,
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: I think the movie starts at six. I think doors
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: open at five o'clock at the Alamo draft house. There's
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: some very few limited tickets left for that. Um, I think,
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: I'd asked Gary Bennett and Miles, uh, Aaron Miles to,
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: to attend. And so we're going to rush over from
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: the Ted Savage golf outing on the 10th over there. And, uh,
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: we'll be signing some autographs and taking pictures. And then I'll,
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: I'll do a Q and a with, um, with everybody
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: involved in, you know, from the cameraman to the director, to,
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: to my coauthor in my book, Leslie Butcher, um, to
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Tyler Sansom and Eric, um, who are executive directors, and
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: we'll do that and then watch the film. My dad
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: will be there, my mom, my oldest son will be
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: there with his girlfriend, and it should be a really
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: great night. And so we'll play that from 6 to 7,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: and then at 7.30 I'll have another showing where it'll
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: just be me and I'll do another question and answer
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: at the Alamo Draft House as well. And there's still
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: tickets available for that, too. I think that's starting to
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: dwindle down, too. But it'll also be playing. I think
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: 18 theaters is possibly that there might be 22 by then.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: But it'll be playing in Chesterfield. There's another theater in St.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Louis as well. There's one in St. Charles. There's one
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: in Arnold. There's one in Jefferson City. I mean, there's
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: a bunch around the St. Louis area and Illinois, like Carbondale.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: It's in Moline, Macomb, Mattoon, Peoria, Morton. So there's a
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: lot of, boy, there's a, I'm going to butcher the name.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: It's like Dupree or Dupere or something like that. Dupere, Dupere.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: It's Dupere. Dupere, yeah. Yeah, De Pere is another one.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: There's a lot. If you go to, if they go
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: to spezio.info, it'll show all the theaters that it's playing on.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: You know, the time, I think most of them will
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: probably be 7 o'clock on September 10th. And you'll be
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: able to buy them there. And you can also buy
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: them at the theater themselves. And then after that, it'll
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: be on a streaming platform named Rediscover TV. for a while,
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: and then we're trying to get it on another platform,
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: maybe an Angel Studios or Prime. We've been talking to
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: MLB Network as well, so they've shown interest, so we're
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: hoping that's a possibility. But it's really cool. We picked
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: the 10th to do it because it's kind of full
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: circle from where I was then to where I am now.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: And I think it's perfect for the movie and also
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: the book, the hardest comeback. Because it really was. I
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: had some incredible comebacks with the Cardinals and the Angels.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: And this was probably the hardest one. And I just
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: wanted to share that hope, that full circle moment with people.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: And I'm really looking forward to it.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Spezier, I got to tell you, I've known you a
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: long time. I'm glad your story, which obviously had some
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: really bad moments, has a happy ending. Good luck with
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: the premiere. I can't wait to see it. I'm going
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: to come and see that thing as well. But if
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: you haven't heard about it, go see the documentary Spezio.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: It's about this guy's life story. And what a pleasure
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: chatting with you. Thanks again, Spezio. Thanks for sharing your story.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: Jim, thank you for taking the time and letting me
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: share it. Can't wait to see it next week. We'll
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: see it. We'll see it.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: We'll see you for the next episode. Hopefully that one
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: won't suck.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: We'll see you next time.