Till the End 

“Beautifully rendered . . . Till the End is more than an account of alcoholism. It has plenty of stirring baseball moments, from Yankee Stadium going silent when Derek Jeter shattered his ankle in a playoff game to C.C. recording his 3,000th strikeout (one of three lefties ever to reach that mark). . . . The author’s candor humanizes the game.”—The Wall Street Journal “Former All-Star Yankees pitcher Sabathia brings the heat in his unsparing debut about overcoming his years long battle with alcoholism. . . . Despite his professional successes—from getting signed to the Cleveland Indians in 2001 as the youngest player ‘in the entire American League’ to joining the New York Yankees in 2008 and winning the World Series—he got into drunken street brawls and even crashed a car into a tree. In 2015, he checked himself into rehab and went public with his addiction on Good Morning America. ‘The love that came back was a revelation,’ he recalls. ‘I was free.’ Those in search of inspiration need look no further.”—Publishers Weekly “One of the best pitchers of his generation—and often the only Black man on his team—shares an extraordinary life in baseball. . . . In 2001, after three seasons in the minor leagues, Sabathia became the youngest player in MLB (age 20). His career took off from there, and in 2008, he signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million, at the time the largest contract ever for a pitcher. With the help of Vanity Fair contributor Smith, Sabathia tells the entertaining story of his 19 seasons on and off the field. . . . This book represents an excellent launching point for Jay-Z’s new imprint, Roc Lit 101. Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)