CC Sabathia’s profession ended abruptly.
Sure, the longtime Yankees left-hander had introduced months earlier his plans to retire after the 2019 season, however his last look didn’t go as ceremoniously as Derek Jeter’s or Mariano Rivera’s.
As an appreciative Yankee Stadium crowd chanted “CC” within the eighth inning of an ALCS Sport 4 loss, Sabathia fired an 89-mph cutter to Houston Astros star George Springer for a ball.
The providing left Sabathia in seen discomfort, and, after testing his sturdy left arm with a single warm-up toss, he walked off the sphere to a standing ovation.
Sabathia had suffered a shoulder dislocation and, as he later revealed, tears to his rotator cuff, labrum and biceps.
It was the final MLB pitch he ever threw.
“I think it’s just kind of fitting,” Sabathia stated the next day. “I threw until I couldn’t anymore.”
Certainly, Sabathia left every thing on the sphere all through his 19-year MLB profession with Cleveland, Milwaukee and the Yankees, throughout which he stood out as considered one of his period’s most dominant, reliable and clutch opponents.
On Tuesday, the Baseball Writers’ Affiliation of America acknowledged Sabathia’s extended excellence by voting him into the Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame in his first yr of eligibility.
Sabathia appeared on 342 of the 397 ballots, or 86.8%, pushing him previous the 75% required for induction.
He’s considered one of three new members for the Corridor of Fame’s Class of 2025, becoming a member of former Yankees teammate Ichiro Suzuki, who obtained 99.7% of the vote, and former Mets nearer Billy Wagner, who acquired 82.5%.
They are going to be inducted at a July 27 ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., together with former sluggers Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who had been chosen final month by the Basic Period Committee.
“It means a lot to just be in the Hall of Fame period, but first-ballot, I know what that means as a baseball player,” Sabathia stated Tuesday. “It’s very special.”
Sabathia went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and three,093 strikeouts in 3,577.1 innings from 2001-19. He’s considered one of three left-handers to report no less than 3,000 strikeouts, and considered one of 15 pitchers with 3,000 Ks and 250 wins.
A six-time All-Star choice, Sabathia received the 2007 American League Cy Younger Award with Cleveland, with whom he spent his first seven ½ seasons.
He was traded to Milwaukee halfway via 2008 and, regardless of his impending free company, willingly pitched on three days’ relaxation in his last three begins of the common season to assist the Brewers make the playoffs. Sabathia completed 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 begins with Milwaukee, then pitched on quick relaxation once more in Sport 2 of the NLDS.
That December, the Yankees signed Sabathia to a seven-year, $161 million contract, making him the highest-paid pitcher in MLB historical past to that time. In an above-and-beyond step, Yankees common supervisor Brian Cashman left the winter conferences in Las Vegas to fulfill with Sabathia and his household at their house in Vallejo, Calif., to assist shut the deal.
The 6-6, 300-pound Sabathia proved to be a worthwhile — and franchise-changing — funding. He went 3-1 with a 1.98 ERA in 36.1 innings over 5 begins within the 2009 postseason, incomes ALCS MVP honors and serving to the Yankees win what stays their most up-to-date World Collection championship.
“The Yankees were the place that wanted me,” Sabathia stated, confirming he plans to enter the Corridor as a Yankee.
“I’ve been here, now, 16 years. I love the other organizations, obviously, that I played in. … But this is home, the Bronx. I found a home in the Bronx and I don’t think I’ll ever leave this city.”
Sabathia tied for the MLB lead in wins in each of his first two seasons with the Yankees, together with with a career-high 21 in 2010. He pitched no less than 200 innings, received no less than 15 video games and posted an ERA no increased than 3.38 in every of his first 4 seasons with the workforce.
Sabathia remained a gentle rotation presence for the remainder of his tenure, ending his 11-year Yankee profession with a 134-88 report, a 3.81 ERA and 1,700 strikeouts over 1918 innings in 307 appearances, together with 306 begins.
His profession almost ended two years earlier, after his Yankees’ loss to the Astros in Sport 7 of the 2017 ALCS left him devastated.
“I was ready to retire, and I get a call from [MLB Network’s] Harold Reynolds,” Sabathia stated. “He started telling me all these different numbers, of how close I am to 3,000 strikeouts and how close I was to 250 wins, and how all these guys that had those numbers are in the Hall of Fame. … I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today if Harold didn’t call me that offseason.”
Sabathia is considered one of two first-ballot alternatives on this yr’s class, becoming a member of Suzuki, who appeared on all however one of many ballots. Rivera, who was inducted in 2019, stays the one unanimous Corridor of Fame choice. Jeter, who was elected in 2020, is the one different particular person to obtain all however one vote.
The slap-hitting Suzuki was already a baseball hero in his native Japan when he joined the Seattle Mariners in 2001, however a Japanese place participant had by no means made the soar to MLB stardom. Suzuki shortly lived as much as the hype, profitable AL MVP and AL Rookie of the Yr in 2001 after setting a rookie report with 242 hits.
In 2004, Suzuki set the MLB single-season report with 262 hits.
Suzuki, a speedy proper fielder with a rocket throwing arm, earned an All-Star choice and received a Gold Glove in every of his first 10 MLB seasons, all with the Mariners.
Seattle traded Suzuki, then 38, to the Yankees halfway via the 2012 season, and he remained in New York via 2014, hitting .281 over 360 video games.
Suzuki additionally performed for the Miami Marlins earlier than ending his profession again with Seattle. He retired with a .311 common, 3,089 hits and 509 stolen bases over 19 MLB seasons.
That manufacturing, coupled together with his 1,278 hits in Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball league, gave Suzuki 4,367 hits as an expert participant — probably the most by anybody in baseball historical past. He’s the primary Japanese participant to be elected to the Corridor of Fame.
“I don’t think anybody in this whole world thought I would be a Hall of Famer,” Suzuki stated via an interpreter. “As a baseball player, this is the highest honor that you can achieve.”
Ichiro Suzuki performed for the Yankees from 2012-14. (Photograph by Elsa/Getty Photos)
Wagner, in the meantime, was elected in his tenth and last yr on the Corridor of Fame poll, incomes 325 votes.
He had missed final yr’s class by solely 5 votes.
Wagner was moved to tears Tuesday upon receiving the telephone name informing him of his election.
“There were times where I was very optimistic,” Wagner stated. “But last year, missing out, and then the hype of everybody saying that no one’s ever missed out when they’ve gotten this close, [I was] waiting for the other shoe to fall. It’s not been an easy 10 years to sit here and swallow a lot of the things that you have to swallow.”
Wagner pitched to a 2.31 ERA, a 0.998 WHIP and 1,196 strikeouts in 903 innings over 16 MLB seasons with the Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, Mets, Boston Crimson Sox and Atlanta Braves from 1995-2010.
His 422 saves rank eighth in MLB historical past and second amongst lefties.
Naturally right-handed, Wagner started throwing from the left facet after breaking his proper arm twice as a baby. With that left arm, Wagner commonly reached triple-digits with a fastball he as soon as dialed as much as 103.1 mph.
Wagner is the ninth reliever, and the primary left-handed one, to make the Corridor of Fame, breaking via at a place that voters have lengthy been stingy with.
His strikeout price of 11.92 per 9 innings ranks thirteenth in MLB historical past. Among the many pitchers to throw no less than 900 innings since 1920, Wagner’s 2.31 ERA is the second lowest, behind solely Rivera’s 2.21. Nobody else’s is below 2.50.
Wagner signed a four-year, $43 million contract with the Mets earlier than the 2006 season. He pitched to a 2.37 ERA and nailed down 101 saves with the Mets earlier than being traded to Boston in August of 2009.
Billy Wagner saved 101 video games for the Mets from 2006-09. (Photograph by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Photos)
Ending in need of the Class of 2025 had been former Mets and Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltrán, who appeared on 70.3% of the ballots in his third yr of eligibility, and ex-Yankees outfielder Andruw Jones, who appeared on 66.2% in his eighth yr.
Different notable omissions included former Yankees stars Alex Rodriguez, who obtained 37.1% of the vote in his fourth yr of eligibility, and Andy Pettitte, who appeared on 27.9% of the ballots in his seventh yr.
Former Mets captain David Wright obtained 8.1% of the vote.
All 5 obtained extra votes than they did in 2024, and they’ll every return to the poll subsequent yr after clearing the 5% cutoff.
Initially Printed: January 21, 2025 at 6:27 PM EST
