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SECRETS OF THE YANK WIVES CLUB

When CC Sabathia signed a seven-year, $161 million dollar contract with the Yankees last Christmas, the all-star pitcher had to learn the signs, the workouts and his way around the clubhouse.

His wife, Amber, had to figure out everything else.

Amber, 27, who has three kids, ages 5, 3 and 10 months, didn’t know a soul in New York when she relocated in April. In Milwaukee, where her husband played for the Brewers, she had become accustomed to life in the slow lane.

“I’m used to the Cheesecake Factory and Applebee’s,” Amber said in an interview with The Post. “In New York, there’s so many restaurants to learn about.”

To ease Amber’s transition to big-city life, Laura Posada, 37, spouse of catcher Jorge Posada and the official “Yankee-wife rep,” has taken her to lunch at Tao and gave her some tips on navigating New York.

“Laura told me that I’m going to love Fashion Week in New York,” said Amber, a dark-haired beauty with a big smile. “She’s going to take me with her to the pre-sales, where they show you the merchandise before the trunk sales.”

The other Yankee wives have also welcomed her to the group.

The Sabathias bonded with Yankee infielder Cody Ransom and his wife, Erica, over dinner at Nobu, and have hit up Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club.

“Michelle Damon recommended that we don’t move to the city,” Amber said. “So we bought a house in Alpine, New Jersey, when we visited New York for a week last Christmas, using Alex Rodriguez’s Realtor.”

Four months after moving to New York, Amber is fully immersed in one of the most exclusive social groups in the city — the Yankee wives.

“We text each other, ‘Are you going to the game? Are you going on the road trip?’ ” Laura Posada told The Post. “You don’t want to go by yourself. When the guys go to the game, what are you going to do? We try to keep it fun, getting together outside the stadium just for girls.”

Amber and Laura, who share many lonely nights with their kids while the husbands travel, have bonded.

Both met their famous husbands when they were 16 years old. Amber and CC dated when they were sophomores in high school in California. Laura met Jorge on a softball field in Puerto Rico when he was working as a substitute umpire. They reconnected at a bar a decade later when Jorge spotted her across the room and told his buddies, “I’m going to make that woman my wife.”

Amber and Laura might dress in Louis Vuitton and Herve Leger now, but both spent years shacking up in dingy motels while their husbands paid their dues in the minor leagues. They’ve gotten used to a nomadic lifestyle and still often travel with the team.

“I don’t like to go 10 days without seeing CC,” Amber said as she prepped her kids in a Seattle Hyatt Thursday night to go watch their dad pitch against the Mariners.

The exclusive Yankee wives club includes the petite Karen Burnett, 34, wife of pitcher A.J. Burnett; the buxom, blond Michelle Damon, 34, outfielder Johnny Damon’s wife, who has been featured in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue; and Erin Robertson, the slim, blond wife of pitcher David Robertson.

The inner circle of hot Yankee wives, who refer to themselves as “the girls” and call their ballplaying husbands “the boys,” take care of their children, meet for lunches in the city, plan picnics at the Stadium and sit together in the family seats behind home plate.

There are some wives who prefer to keep their distance from the head cheerleaders. Slugger Hideki Matsui’s wife, Ai Nakayama, who has never been photographed by the press, barely speaks English and doesn’t sit in the family section when she attends.

Georgia native Leigh Teixeira, 31, who persuaded husband Mark to sign a eight-year, $180 million contract with the Yankees last Christmas rather than the Red Sox, comes off as “a little shy,” according to Laura Posada.

“She’s not used to the attention. She came to an event I threw at the Tory Burch store in the Meatpacking District, and she was like, ‘Wow, this didn’t happen in Texas.’ I’m like, ‘Welcome to New York!’ ”

There’s just one cardinal rule for club members: no girlfriends allowed. And celebrity girlfriends? Don’t even think about it.

In Boston, Michelle Damon was booed as a home wrecker for breaking up Johnny’s first marriage when he played for the Red Sox. New Yorkers — and the other Yankee wives — now accept her as a member of the in-crowd.

But the Yankee ladies broke the girlfriend rule last week, when third baseman Alex Rodriguez’s current flame, Kate Hudson, made an overture to join them in the family seating area at the game Monday night.

Hudson moved from A-Rod’s front-row seats along the third-base line to sit with three other wives — and they eagerly mugged for a Post photographer with the movie star.

Movie-star girlfriends, like Derek Jeter’s current squeeze, Minka Kelly, are often cautioned to keep their distance from the long-suffering wives. Kelly watches the games secluded in Jeter’s private box. But Hudson, with her girl-next-door appeal, seems to be wooing the wives like an eager freshman pledging a sorority.

“She’s a great girl,” Amber said. “She’s super cool.”

Laura Posada, who watched A-Rod’s marriage to Cynthia Rodriguez disintegrate among rumors that he was having an affair with Madonna, even gave the Alex-and-Kate relationship her stamp of approval.

“We love her!” Laura cooed. “She doesn’t act like a superstar. She’s on the field, she’s in the family room, she’s really becoming part of the group. They’re happy, and it shows in the way he’s playing. I think it’s great.”

It wasn’t always so chummy among the wives.

“In the past, there has been tension,” Laura said. “The wives have not always gotten along. If you have two wives fighting, it’s going to get back to the guys.”

Cynthia Rodriguez never sat with the other wives, sources said.

Besides the fame, the money, the access and the friendships, there’s a dark side to being a diamond wife.

“You give up a lot,” said one ex-wife who was “released” a few years back for a newer model.

“You’re moving all the time. It’s 162 games, plus six weeks of spring training. It’s a long haul.”

Even worse, she said, is when the husband whom you grew up with, lived out of motels with, went through the minors with, “spoils.”

“Some of the guys live it the hardest and fastest they can,” she said. “They’ve lost their touch with reality. They think, ‘Rules don’t apply to me.’ They see the other guys doing anything they want and think they should be able to, too.”

“I’m happier now that I’m not part of that life,” she said. “But when it’s good, it can be really good.”

akarni@nypost.com