WASHINGTON — On the day he seriously thought never would arrive as late as this past November, Slade Heathcott didn’t forget a person who helped him battle alcohol abuse that threatened to end the former first-round draft pick’s career before it really got started.
“Without Ron Dock I don’t know where I would be,’’ Heathcott said of the Yankees’ intervention coordinator who spent countless hours with Heathcott during the outfielder’s first three years in the organization after being taken in the 2009 draft. “Without him I would not have gotten the chance to work with Sam Marsonek.’’
Marsonek, who pitched for the Yankees in 2004, beat a severe drinking problem with the help of religion.