Scott Spiezio is Still Writing His Story
- Jeff Perro
- Oct 4
- 17 min read
Updated: Oct 9
April 2018 - As Scott Spiezio laid in the hospital bed—weak, short of breath, and his skin a deep yellow—the doctors delivered a grim truth: he would need a liver transplant to survive, but there was a devastating catch. To even be considered, he had to remain sober for six months.
1993: Drafted in the 6th round by the Oakland A's
1996: Made MLB debut September 14th.
2002: World Series hero with Anaheim Angels.
2004: Back injury during spring training with the Seattle Mariners. Begins drinking.
2005: Begins having an affair while married to high school sweetheart. First divorce. Would soon marry his mistress.
2006: Hero of NLCS for St Louis Cardinals. Wins second World Series ring. Becomes addicted to cocaine.
2007: First of 12 rehab attempts. Flees police following drunk driving accident December 30th.
2008: Released by Cardinals after they learn of the DUI. Would later be released by Atlanta Braves after playing in 5 games in AAA.
2010: Second divorce.
2013: Arrested during domestic incident. Second DUI.
2018: Got sober. Has been sober since.
Scott Spiezio began his major league career with the Oakland Athletics in 1997 at the age of 24 as the team's regular second baseman. In 1998 and 1999, he was used primarily as a corner infielder while also filling in at second base, establishing himself as a reliable switch-hitter with some power in part-time roles. After signing with the Anaheim Angels in 2000, Spiezio’s playing time and contributions increased.
In 2002, he enjoyed arguably the best season of his career, hitting .285 with 12 home runs and 82 RBIs. That year he also became a postseason hero, delivering clutch hits throughout the playoffs and cementing his legacy with a dramatic three-run home run in Game 6 of the World Series, with the Angels trailing 5-0 in the game and 3-2 in the series. The team would comeback to win the game and the series. Scott earned his first World Series ring and such perks as appearances on both The Tonight Show with Jay Leno AND The Late Show with David Letterman.
Scott would continue his production with the Angels in 2003. The Angels, however, would not renew his contract following that season. He entered free agency and signed a multi-year deal with the Seattle Mariners, a three-year deal with a team option for a fourth.
"I really didn't want to leave Anaheim," Scott Spiezio says. "I loved it there and I loved the fans and I loved my teammates. But, we got a new owner and, little by little, that team was going in a different direction."
His Mariners' career got off to a rough start. During spring training in 2004, Spiezio tripped over the pitcher's mound while fielding a pop up, severely injuring his back. "They [team doctors] were telling me I that I probably wasn't going to play again." Spiezio elaborates, "If I did try to play and more fluid came out of my spine, it could paralyze me. I went to more and more doctors. They all said I was not going to be able to play. Finally, I found one doctor that said, 'Hey, your spinal cord is thick enough. I think you can play.' It's crazy for me to think I even played."
The back injury also injured Scott psychologically. It took him to, as he describes, "a dark place."
"The problem was I wasn't playing at the beginning of the season." He explains, "I was just miserable. I'm traveling with the team, plus it's a new team. I don't really know anybody. In Anaheim and with Oakland, I had a bunch of guys that kind of helped hold me accountable, so I wouldn't, you know, do stupid stuff."
Prior to this time that he was forced off the field, Spiezio was not a drinker. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd been drunk. As an everyday player, Scott took care of his body. He didn't like to drink alcohol because of how it'd make him feel the next day. While on the disabled list, that concern went away.
"I went out, I was trying to fit in and I started drinking beer." Scott admits, "They were like, 'Quit sipping those beers, you know, drink a mixed drink,' and I drank it. I was like, 'Oh, this ain't bad.' One turned into four and was feeling pretty good about myself. Then, all of a sudden, I'm drinking eight and then 16 and then who knows how many. It just kind of became a habit and it took away anxiety and depression and I just went down that rabbit hole."
When he returned to the field during that 2004 season, he posted a .215 batting average with an OPS of only .634. He hit only .064 in 51 plate appearances in 2005 before the Mariners released him. His performance off the field matched his poor performance on it.
Spiezio explains, "When I drink, I become a different person. I started making stupid decisions and I ended up just doing stuff I never would have done in the past. I ended up having an affair and trying to hide it. Eventually that led to my divorce of my high school sweetheart that I've been with since I was 16 years old. We had three kids and I just became a totally different person. I went through the divorce and I just felt a lot of guilt and shame. So then it was easier to drink and to keep drinking. "
Scott began to think his baseball career was over following the 2005 campaign, until he got a call from the St. Louis Cardinals.
"I was like, 'YEAH!'" He recalls, "I went out, got my haircut, and then had my soul patch dyed red. My agent told me I was crazy, I said, 'Don't worry. People are going to love it."
Scott's father, Ed Spiezio, is a former Major League player himself. He spent parts of ten seasons in The League. He's most remembered with those St. Louis Cardinals, having spent five years with the team and being a member of the 1964 and 1967 World Series champion teams.
Scott was born six days before his father played his last professional baseball game.
Spiezio served as a valuable utility player for the 2006 Cardinals, playing multiple positions including first base, third base, and the outfield. He enjoyed a bounce-back campaign, hitting .272 with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs in 321 plate appearances.
"We had a bunch of great guys, but to be a part of that and to be a big part of it was cool." Scott remembers, "And, to see a bunch of St. Louis fans coming to the park wearing stick-on red soul patches. Kids three, four, five years old, dogs, grandmothers 70-plus years old wear red stick on soul patches was really cool."
His success carried over into the postseason, where he delivered key performances during the Cardinals’ run to the World Series championship, most notably a pivotal triple in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Mets. With the Cardinals trailing, 6–4, in the seventh inning, Spiezio hit a two-run triple to tie the score. The Cardinals went on to win the game and win the series in seven games. then proceeded to win the World Series, earning him his second World Series ring.
Scott and Ed Spiezio became the first father-son duo to win World Series rings with the same team, as well as the first family to win two rings each. "The thing that was missing was my dad, and a lot of my family. We didn't talk for a couple of years after I got divorced," Scott states sorrowfully.
2006 was significant for Scott Spiezio for another reason. It was the year he tried and became addicted to cocaine.
Spiezio tells, "By this time in 2006, I'd been exposed to the cocaine. It was a constant battle by August. The season of 2005 was the first time I'd saw a drug in my life. I mean, I was the D.A.R.E guy. I was the guy that hated drugs and would talk to kids from the time I was in high school, all the way through college, and into the minor leagues. 'Stay away from drugs and alcohol.' So now, all of sudden, I had been exposed to it. I tried it after a game. We were in Phoenix and the next day I hit two home runs and they're like, 'You gotta do it again.' And I did it again."
Scott continues, "I hit another home run and a double. Then I didn't do it [the next night] and I struck out four times, the only time in my career I struck out four times. I did it again the next day and I had another couple of RBIs. So I'm like, 'I'm just gonna keep doing it for the rest of the year.' So I did it the rest of the year, but I said I'd stop after the season ended. Of course, we won the World Series and now it's time to party. I developed now not only, alcoholism, but now a drug addiction."
Spiezio admits to having water bottles filled with vodka on the bench and cocaine on his person during games, "One was an upper one was a downer. So now I'm trying to balance it all the time, not getting much sleep, and still playing at the highest levels in the biggest games that you can play at the major league level."
The years-long rift with his family also took it's toll on Scott Spiezio. But that relationship began to heal, with a little nudge from the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He explains, "One of the cool things that the Cardinals did was they reached out to my dad. Some of my teammates had something to do with it. I think Jimmy Edmonds and [Troy] Percival and some other guys had really reached out to the Cardinals to reach out to my dad."
"It wasn't Opening Day, but the next day they gave the rings out and they asked my dad if he would come down and present me my ring because it was the first time in Major League history where father-son had won with the same organization and it was also the first time father son had won two World Series a piece," Scott Spiezio remembers. "All of a sudden, they're about ready to announce my name. And I'm sitting in the dugout and I hear Mike [Shannon, Cardinals' radio broadcaster] say, 'For the next player, we have a special guest presenter. For the first time in history, a father and son.....' And I turn around and I see my dad in his old jersey in the dugout talking to [Albert] Pujols and [Scott] Rolen. I just started balling. They announced him, he got the ring, then they announced me and we hugged. And that was the start of healing."
The positive momentum would quickly fade.
On August 7, 2007, Spiezio fainted in the clubhouse. The cause was a cocktail of alcohol, cocaine, dehydration, and lack of sleep. When he came to, he was hooked up to an IV and alone in the clubhouse with athletic trainers, the team doctor, and general manager Walt Jocketty. Spiezio pulled out the IV and ran.
The next day, when he arrived to the ballpark, Jocketty and manager Tony La Russa were waiting for him. Scott came clean about his substance abuse.
Jocketty and La Russa had a plan. They were going to put Spiezio on the disabled list under the guise that a prior finger infection had returned. In reality, they were sending him to rehab.
"Problem was it got out and nobody knows who who divulged it. There was a big story about the whole incident in the front page of the St Louis Dispatch, followed right behind that by USA Today's front page of the sports page. So I didn't even have a chance to tell anybody yet, like you know my kids' mom or my parents, and all of a sudden it's all over. It's on SportsCenter and everywhere."
"They ended up sending me to rehab, but only like 20 minutes away from St. Louis. It was outpatient and it, you know, it really didn't work." Scott credits the Cardinals for the effort, "To be fair with the Cardinals, I don't think they'd have really ever dealt with anybody that had an issue. I remember while Jocketty was asking me about it, 'Hey, you know, give me a little bit of what it feels like,' he was really trying to understand and they really thought they were doing the best thing. But looking back from what I know now, the best case scenario probably would have been to send me away to like Montana for like a month or two months, because just sending me 20 minutes away... I didn't share with anybody because I had already been burned by being on the front page of the paper and everywhere else."
"I went for, for 28 days," says Spiezio of his first rehab attempt. "I was still working out with the team. I ended up coming back and that same night I started against the Cubs and [Carlos] Zambrano. Then I start traveling with the team and right away I'm exposed to drinking all over the place, you know? And so it was really tough. Inevitably I started drinking again and, you know, when you start drinking again, then you start using again.... 2007 was a rough year. I think I hit close to .270. I didn't have as many home runs, but I still had a pretty productive year for a guy that would go five or six days without sleep sometimes and still play."
Scott's rough year would continue after the end of the baseball season. On December 30th, he drunkenly crashed his BMW into a fence in Irvine, CA, assaulted a neighbor, then evaded capture. The Irvine Police waited until spring training 2008 to issue a warrant. Thirty minutes after the warrant became public, the St. Louis Cardinals released him.
The Atlanta Braves then gave him a chance. They sent him to AAA Richmond to start the 2008 season. "I was doing good. I was about ready to get called up," Spiezio remembers. "I already had a house in Atlanta, and then I just was like, 'I don't want to do this. I don't want to be that far from my kids.' So I went [to the ballpark] one night and I just told them, 'I'm done.' I think guilt and shame from that like made me even want to drink more."
His second marriage would end shortly after his MLB career.
Baseball offers players a meticulously structured environment. Nearly every aspect of their day is planned out and many other details of there season are managed for them. From gym sessions and batting cage work to pregame stretches, the National Anthem, and the exact time the team bus departs for the airport, everything runs on a precise schedule. Players are well cared for, with meals provided on flights, two full meals at the stadium, and a variety of snacks, smoothies, and beverages available at any time. Beyond the field, their agents handle equipment needs and provide guidance on finances and money management, ensuring players can focus fully on the game.
Scott Spiezio would soon lose that structure. He would also forfeit the accountability that being a part of a professional baseball team ensures. Scott would have complete freedom. Compounding matters, he had money.
"I came back home and, and just kind of isolated." Scott states, "I was trying to do adrenaline filled stuff. You know, I had sports cars and old muscle cars. I'd fly up and down streets on four wheelers. I had miles of four-wheeler tracks, zip lines, and kayaks at my place. I was doing all crazy sorts of things. I didn't care if I died or not. I was traveling all over too. I'd go to Vegas and I knew a lot of rock stars, so I'd be hanging out all night with guys from Guns N' Roses or Metallica or all these other bands. I'd just go to Vegas for like two weeks and then I'd go to Cabo and then I'd go to Puerto Vallarta and then I'd go to Aruba. It was just all one big party for me. Every chance I had to go party that's what I did."
The money would eventually begin to deplete. In addition to running through cash on liquor, coke, and general partying at an absurd rate, Spiezio had other financial headaches. He had two expensive divorces, alimony and child support payments, eleven trips to rehab over ten years, and several bad investments. Even with selling off his four-wheelers and some property holdings, along with his car collection after he quit driving following a 2015 DUI, it's surprising the money lasted as long as it did.
Before he was able to lose the rest of his assets, Scott turned over power of attorney to his father and gave up access to all of his own accounts. Spiezio says, "Because of my dad, I ended up keeping my property, my place in Morris (IL,) my hometown and he used what was left to pay bills for awhile. Then started paying my bills on his own."
Cocaine’s high cost ultimately played a role in breaking Scott’s addiction. He could, however, still trade autographs and the groceries his parents bought him for booze.
Recovery, in His Own Words
"My liver started deteriorating because, even though I wasn't using drugs, my liver was just tired of it. At some points in my life, I was drinking probably two handles of vodka a day. I eventually turned yellow. My back was hurting and, I know now know it was my kidneys, but I thought it was my back. I went and got an MRI. I was lucky I went in and they noticed I was yellow. They sent me the ER. Long story short they told me 'Your liver is shutting down. You're going to have to have a transplant, but first of all, you got to survive this. Your numbers are off the chart. We've never seen anything like this. You got about a 20 % chance to live.' I brought my family in to tell them, "Hey, I want you to take care of my kids. I want you to give them this, this and this. Basically was telling them my will."
"And it was tough, I never felt so weak and so bad. They were trying to get me to do physical therapy in the hospital and I couldn't do it. I was fading. I was fading and then I just prayed."
"I prayed 'God, if you can get me through this and you can take away my cravings, I'll be a voice for you and talk to kids about my faith and about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. From that day on, I never had one craving. That was April 6th, 2018, and I haven't had a sip of alcohol. I haven't had a drug. I haven't messed around with prescription drugs. Nothing."
"I prayed that prayer and I slowly started getting better. They still told me I'd need a transplant if I could go six months without drinking. They were taking fluid out of my abdomen. I mean, two liters of fluid out of my abdomen, which they said I was probably going to have to keep doing until I got a transplant. I was seeing the best doctors from a liver team at Northwestern. I'd go back every couple of weeks, and then, after maybe two or three months, I went back and they said, 'We don't understand it, but your liver numbers are normal. Your fatty liver and your liver damage has disappeared and we've never seen anything like it.'"
Scott Spiezio has done exactly what he told God he would do. He's been speaking to school, churches, and any other organizations who would give him a platform. "I went from being ashamed to walk out of my house and now I share my story regularly."
"I realized that my identity never really was a baseball player. My identity is as a Christian first. I still love the game. I still teach the game. I still watch the game. But I'm comfortable in my skin as a Christian first and foremost and as a father, a son, a brother, you know, a true friend to many."
"I still have, you know, a great piece of property," says Spiezio contently. "I'm looking out the window now and seeing deer run around and birds, eagles and all, and it's, awesome. But it's nothing super fancy. I still give lessons, I talk here and there. I try not to charge too much. It's not like I'm making a ton of money. I'm driving a small used SUV. And I'm totally content. I'm happy. I have a great relationship with my family and my dad and mom."
"I have a 10 year old that I didn't see for a few years and then I fought to get back in his life. It's just been a total blessing. It's almost like a second chance and I've had a second chance with my my three other kids. I've grown real, real close with my two oldest boys as well. Now my daughter, that's been a little bit more of a tough one." Scott and his daughter were rebuilding their relationship, but she seems to have stopped communication with him once she began college. He's able to pass messages of love through other family members to her, but she hasn't reopened the passages of communication yet.
It'll happen.
His children now have a father who has scaled two extraordinary peaks in his lifetime. The first was his rise from Morris, Illinois, to Major League Baseball, where he became a postseason hero. Decades later, facing death’s door, he made an even greater climb—overcoming alcohol and drug addiction to achieve a full recovery.
"I just feel like this is my calling to share my story and show what God can do in your life if you let him," he insists. Miracles can happen. It's never too late. It's never too late to get sober. It's never too late to change your life. It's never too late to mend broken relationships. And the thing I always say is, 'As long as you've got a breath, you've got a pen to write a great ending.'"
For nearly a decade after the abrupt end of his professional baseball career, Scott Spiezio kept his distance from the game. Prior to 2018, he hadn't been involved in many of the typical MLB alumni events. He surfaced at the 10th-anniversary reunions of both the 2002 Angels and the 2006 Cardinals, but those appearances came during the height of his partying phase—his former teammates couldn’t help but notice.
By the time the Angels celebrated their 20th reunion in 2022, however, Spiezio was living sober. This time, his teammates saw a different man: the same teammate they had admired and respected back in 2002 had finally returned. The Cardinals' 20th reunion will be during the 2026 season.
"Of course my [Cardinals'] 20-year reunion's coming up next year, but I just saw a bunch of them when I got to fantasy camp, and they saw that I wasn't drinking." Scott continues, "And then I just saw a bunch of them at the Cardinals Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Chris Carpenter came up and said, "Spiez, man, it's so awesome to see you. It's so awesome to see you healthy.' Scott Rolen went out of his way when he came off the stage to come give me a big hug. [Mark] McGwire was awesome, he was happy to see me too. They're all like, 'Man, it's so good to see you. It's so, so great what you're doing. We didn't know if you were going to make it, we're so glad you did.'"
In addition to his regular appearances at the Cardinals’ fantasy camps three times a year, Spiezio shares his story with youth sports teams, faith-based organizations, and any group that might benefit from his experience.
The groups he has spoken to range from his hometown Morris Community High School High School, to the Minooka Rats 14U team, to Joliet Junior College, to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
He makes regular appearances at MLB alumni games, camps and clinics, and events benefiting nonprofit organizations. Theses appearances include Brace for Impact, St, Jude Children's Research Hospital, and many, MANY Miracle League events, among other.
Scott owns and operates Spiezio Baseball in his hometown Morris, IL. There he teaches students from elementary school to college age. Students can receive one-on-one instruction on hitting, pitching, fielding, and the mental game. They also receive a healthy dose of warnings about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.
Scott Spiezio expects the manuscript of his autobiography, ghost written by Lesley Butcher, to be done by early 2026. There is a Scott Spiezio documentary directed and produced by Shelby Kimpel, titled "Spiezio," that is ready to go, as well. The the doc and the book will be released at roughly the same time. The two are certainly not vanity projects. Scott says, "It's more to help people, to give people hope. I just want people to realize that God loves you and he's never going to turn his back. He's always there."
In addition to the documentary and book, a full-length feature film titled "Rally." Will so begin filming. The movie is going to be written and produced by Andrew Bennett, who is a filmmaker from Scott's hometown of Morris, IL.
Conclusion, in His Own Words
"Like Ozzie Smith always says, 'We're in the business of making moments that will last a lifetime.' There's always people that still come up to me that say, 'Hey man, you know that triple that you had on the second to last day against the Brewers!' or 'That triple that you had in Game 2 of the NLCS,' or, whatever it was. You know, I'd be in Anaheim and 'Dude! I remember exactly where I was Game 6 when you hit that home run!'"
"The messages I get now are, 'Dude, you inspired me to get sober and I'm six months sober,' or 'I'm three years sober' or 'I'm helping other people,' or 'I've regained my relationship with my kids. I saved my marriage. I started going to church and you inspired me to read the Bible.' Like, that's the stuff that is. That's what is really exciting to hear. The baseball stuff is cool, but the real life stuff is even better."
If you are interested in having Scott Spiezio speak to your group, he can be contacted at spieziobaseball21@gmail.com.
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