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Blackjack, Blow and Strippers: The CJ Phillips Story
http://www.simgamingnetwork.com/blb/...ayer_9587.html
July 18th 2020, 8:17 PM. The Sandbox baseball field, Las Vegas, Nevada. Top of the 7th inning, BLB All-Star Game. 23-year-old Seattle Pilots center fielder C.J. Phillips trots out to center field.
July 18th 2020, 1:43 AM. VIP Room at the Spearmint Rhino Gentlemen's Club, Las Vegas, Nevada. 23-year-old Seattle Pilots outfielder lines up to snort gram-sized lines of cocaine off three adult entertainers naked bodies.
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Phillips was a three-sport athlete growing up in Philadelphia, PA. He passed up a scholarship to play point guard at La Salle Univeristy, instead deciding to take his talents to Brewster, MA and play baseball for the Whitecaps, During his first year he took the Cape Code League by storm hitting .340 with a 1.070 OPS. In his second year his bat cooled but still impressed scouts enough to be selected 79th overall by the new expansion Seattle Pilots in 2017.
"I was excited but also really nervous," says Phillips. "I had spent majority of my life in the northeast and the Pilots were probably the furthest team from home."
Little did Phillips know at the time he would actually be spending his first seasons in the minors out of the country. The Pilots Single-A affiliate plays in Cienfuegos, Cuba. In his first full season with the club, Phillips was an All-Star. He hit .330 with a .945 OPS.
"I loved it down there. Some of the best blow I ever had was during my two years down there. And it was cheap. And strip clubs were cheap, too."
The Pilots made the post-season in 2017 and 2018 but after a career-ending injury to their ace Dave "Double D" Dunham, the season went south quickly and the team started a rebuild. Attendance was dropping fast and in the 2nd half the team needed a spark, insert Phillips at just 22-years-old. He proceeded to hit .338 with a .890 OPS while playing centerfield and was immediately a fan favorite.
"Yeah, I remember the first I went to Vegas with Dave. He was still on the disabled list but traveling with the team. He took me under his wing and showed me what the town had to offer. People think he got the nickname Double D because of his initials.... or that he was overweight... it was really two entirely separate things."
Dunham had an affinity for doubling down on the black jack table and he also had an insatiable love for big breasted women.
"He was just a kid," says Dunham. "We still had two series at the Scorpions that year when he got called up. He was immediately a hit in the clubhouse and would tell us stories of his partying. Even for a 22-year-old, he had some pretty good nights out. I thought I'd show him the ropes in Vegas. I taught him how to win at blackjack. I showed him all the best strip clubs. But I warned him, don't get caught up with that white stuff. Seriously. It's the worst. I told him to do anything and everything else but he didn't listen."
Enter the 2020 BLB season. Phillips is now a known up and comer in the BLB, and the 23-year-old is arguably the best player on the rebuilding Pilots. He was selected to the 2020 All-Star game and his career would never be the same.
"By that time I was pretty popular at the clubs in Vegas. I went out every time we played against Death Valley and I'd fly down any chance I got otherwise. I was only on the rookie salary but almost everything was free for me down there. Well, besides the strippers and cocaine."
Gambling, women and partying became his priority. For the first time in his life, baseball was no longer his favorite thing to do. Not even close. It affected his work ethic and practice habits. He would struggle in 2021 trying to balance baseball and the party boy lifestyle. His numbers dipped to .212 AVG and .590 OPS, while posting his worst defensive efficiency of his baseball career.
In March of 2022, Phillips would tear his shoulder and miss the entire season. By July, he stopped traveling with the team.
"It was hard to be around the team. I wanted to be in Vegas. The fans had forgotten me with (Andy) Ulloa and (Manny) Nieto hitting highlight reel home runs every night."
After racking a huge debt on the strip, Phillips was in desperate need for cash. He was schedule to head to arbitration while under control by the Pilots. He told the team he was going to ask for $3,000,000. The team told him, they would bring him back for the league minimum and not a penny more. Phillips retired from the BLB less than three months later.
"I'm here to tell you guys the truth," Phillips announces to a room full of teenagers. Now 27-years-old, Phillips is using his story to help at-risk teenagers in the Seattle and Philadelphia. "I was young. Good looking. A great baseball career ahead of me. I had just made the All-Star game at 23! I was flying high....but a little too close to the sun."
Knowing what he lost, Phillips swears to never touch the stuff again. But that doesn't mean he is going sober.
"Oh hell no. Just no more blow."
Phillips tells all and more in his new book, "Anything But Cocaine", to be released on April 10th, Opening Day of the Brewers League Baseball season.
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