CC Sabathia will make history a week from Sunday when he becomes the third Black pitcher – Bob Gibson and Feguson Jenkins are the others – to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
While he is pleased to make history, Sabathia wonders who the next flame-throwing brother to be enshrined in Cooperstown will be. He feels responsible to help develop a future Hall of Famer through the Players Alliance, a non-profit organization that encourages Black kids to play baseball.
Sabathia also wants to see other Black pitchers to be part of the exclusive club called the “Black Aces” — 15 African-American pitchers who had the distinction of winning 20 or more games in a Major League Baseball season. Sabathia reached that magic number when he won 21 games with the Yankees in 2010. The other Black Aces include Don Newcombe (1951, ’55, ’56), Sam Jones (’59), Jim “Mudcat” Grant (1965), Bob Gibson (’65, ’66, ’68-70), Fergie Jenkins (’67-72, ’74), Earl Wilson (’67), Vida Blue (’71, ’73, ’75), Al Downing (’71), J.R. Richard (’76), Mike Norris (1980), Dwight Gooden (’85), Dave Stewart (’87-90), Dontrelle Willis (2005) and David Price (2012).
“For this next generation, I feel even more responsible to tell our own guys about being that Black ace, whether it’s Taj Bradley, Chase Burns or Hunter Greene or whoever else,” Sabathia said during a Zoom call with the media. “I don’t want to be the last Black pitcher to win 20 games, be in the Hall of Fame and do all these things,” Sabathia said. “Now, it’s got me on the search on who’s next and what could I do to get that person or that kid on the mound and in the right direction as a starting pitcher.”
From his father, Carsten Charles Sabathia Sr., to former Major Leaguer Damon Hollins, Sabathia had plenty of mentors while growing up in Vallejo, Ca. CC said most of his Hall of Fame speech will be about the people from Vallejo who encouraged him to become a baseball player.
“I think about my father every single day and just think about the relationship he would have with my boys. How excited he would be living here in New York and going to Yankee games. He was such a huge Yankee fan, too,” Sabathia said.
“I’m just excited [that me and the people from Vallejo] get to celebrate. My coach, [Abe] Hobbs, Hazel Wilson [are] coming out. So many different people from Vallejo. That city is super special. I always tell people that I didn’t have to look much further outside of that city for inspiration.”
