Five O'Clock Comes Early: A Young Man's Battle with Alcoholism

by Bob Welch, George Vecsey

Bob Welch was twenty-three, a World Series star, and promising young pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers when he realized he was an alcoholic. He became one of the first prominent athletes to discuss his ongoing treatment for addiction. His description of his time at the rehab center and his daily struggle to stay sober has been a guiding light to more than a generation of people, young and old, who face addiction in themselves or their families.

Genres: Baseball, Sports

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1981

Reviews

[Jeff Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being an adult child of a alcoholic this book was very interesting to me, at age twelve I gave my dads life to the Lord because there was not much I could do to stop him from going out late at night to buy more alcohol...whatever happen would just happen. People drink for all kinds of reasons but most start in familys that drink all the time, so that leads kids to want to drink as well. This is what happen to Bob, deep down he had a fear of dying and so he drank and drank hard. By age 22 he was at the beginning to a bright baseball career and also past the point of destroying it and with the help of That Big Dodger In The Sky being as Tommy Lasorda likes to say, did he go into treatment for 32 days. He became a new man...One day at a time.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. I feel the book may be a little outdated (1980?) but the premise and the message still hold true. As the title indicates its about former MLB pitcher Bob Welch and his struggle with alcohol - and how he was able to get sober.

[Geoffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice story of overcoming addiction from a late MLB pitcher that my generation does not know a lot about. Shorter book, easy to read.

[Peter Stangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raw accounting of how alcoholism nearly sank Welch, and how he came back. Credit to the Dodgers for investing in his treatment—I’m no sure Welch would have sought treatment himself.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great, I always loved the Oakland A's of the late 80's and early 90's and to know what Bob Welch battled early in his career and defeated it is awesome. Knowing about all the bumps in the road that he endured and just how people react knowing that got sober was great insight especially as a former alcoholic myself. There were so many similar situations that were mentioned in this book that I faced as well.