Why Bret Boone left the Mets in spring 2006

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

From ESPN.com:

When Bret Boone abrubtly retired from Mets camp in 2006, he said he had lost passion for baseball. On Monday in Nats camp, Boone revealed the real reason he quit.

Boone said he retired then because he had a problem with alcohol. He now hasn't had a drink in seven months as he hopes to return to Major League Baseball with the Nationals.

"For me, it was an alcohol thing," Boone said, according to MLB.com. "It wasn't to the point where I was down and out. But it was to a point where I could see it was going there.

"I don't want to make a big deal about it, but I was at a point where sometimes it was more important to me to go to a hotel bar after a game. At the end, it takes away your passion and everything inside that makes you tick. I'm not proud of it. I'm proud I took care of the situation before it got to a point where it could have."

[metirish]

WOW, very honest of him and good to see he got the help needed. Still a terrible TV color guy, or maybe that was the booze.