Up until last week, I was only vaguely aware of who baller Scott Spiezio was. I knew exactly two things that weren’t germane to me — he was a dude who played pro baseball and he had two World Series rings.

The one thing that was relevant to me? He was a former addict in long-term recovery.

When I did a deep dive on Spiezio, I learned about a man who was seemingly at the tippiest top of his game. At this peak, this guy was a revered rockgod-like athlete, making millions. In 2002, he hit a home run heard ‘round the world for the Anaheim Angels. (Go look it up. I don’t have the wherewithal to share the whole story.)

After signing with Seattle, a spring training injury sent him into a tailspin in 2004. He became a gigantic mess — imbibing on booze to excess while being sidelined. “After they told me that I might not ever play again, I just got into a depression. And I was with a new team and started drinking,” he said. “And then I got to be good at it, really fast. And when I drink, I’m a different person. So, then I started making bad decisions.”

He then went from the highest of highs (pun intended) to the lowest of lows just a few years later.

His saga is well documented. After being hospitalized with a severe, life-threatening bout with jaundice from a badly damaged liver, Spiezio bottomed out for the last time. He started his long-term recovery journey in 2018.

This week Spiezio spoke to nearly 400 people at In The Name of Grace’s annual Giving Grace breakfast. This organization helps fund Oxford Houses in Missouri which — at its core — provides safe, sober living and gives recovering addicts a chance to evolve.

Because my life works in mysterious ways, I was asked to take Spiezio to dinner and be his unofficial handler. Seemed like a solid choice. Well, sorta. Pro: I mean, I like to eat and can humor anyone with my pithy bon mots. Con: I know nothing about baseball.

Come to think of it, I know absolutely nothing about any sport of any merit.

But over steaks and some killer gnocchi, I learned that Spiezio is about as humble as a human being can get. Here’s what I gleaned in less than two hours. (And, no, I didn’t slip into reporter-mode either. Turns out, Spiezio is just as chatty as me.)

*At his worst, he was drinking a gallon of vodka a day. Repeat, a gallon. Of vodka. Daily.

*In 2002, at the height of his popularity, he did David Letterman’s infamous Top 10 List via satellite. He also made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and had cameos in several sitcoms.

*He’s from Morris, Illinois. “It’s in the middle of cornfields, basically. Great town. Close enough to get to the airports, go downtown and see some games, but far enough away where you don’t have traffic jams or anything like that. I think we’re 14,000 people. When I grew up, it was probably 6,500.”

*One of the first times he did cocaine, he proceeded to hit two home runs. “And then it became a superstition,” he said. “And so, I just kept doing it. The second day, I hit a home run, a double the next day. And then when I didn’t do it, I struck out four times. And so, I’m like all right, ‘I’m going to keep doing this ‘til the end of the season.’ Of course, we won the World Series.”

And while this isn’t a fun fact, I would like to point out that Spiezio loves him some steak and potatoes. And dessert. Definitely dessert. So, when the restaurant offered up a chocolate ooey-gooey butter cake, he was all in. “I’m from St. Louis, so we’re getting that,” he declared.

Halfway through inhaling said dessert, he froze. “Oh, shoot! This has pecans,” he said. “I’m allergic to pecans.”

The color drained from my face … and let’s be honest, there wasn’t much to begin with. Naturally, I braced for the inevitable: Scott Spiezio, baseball hero and two-time World Series champ, was about to die on my watch. And this was before his keynote speech.

I did some quick mental math: nearest hospital, two blocks. Probability of immediate doom? Extremely high. And then he squints at the cake and goes, “Or wait … is it walnuts?”

Long story short: he remains alive, well, and absolutely crushed his keynote speech this morning. He even joked about my panic attack last night on stage — audience laughed; I did not.

So, yeah. I now have a new sober buddy. A World Series-winning, dessert-loving legend who just made it very clear he expects a starring role in my next book about celebrities. And, man, what a great story he has to tell.