CC Sabathia Gets The Call To Cooperstown: His 251 Career Wins Is Most Among Melanated Mound Marauders

CC Sabathia Gets The Call To Cooperstown: His 251 Career Wins Is Most Among Melanated Mound Marauders

by | Jan 22, 2025 | THE LEAD OFF

NEW YORK – At 4:05 p.m. ET on Tuesday, CC Sabathia wrote on X, The day “feels like Christmas Eve.” A little more than two hours later, it was more like Christmas day. Why? The Baseball Hall of Fame announced that Sabathia will be enshrined in Cooperstown on July 27th at the Clark Sports Center. He is expected to have the Yankees cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.

 

 

 

Sabathia received 86.8 percent of the votes cast by eligible members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and will go into the Hall alongside Ichiro Suzuki, Billy Wagner, Dick Allen [posthumously] and Dave Parker.

 

 

 

Sabathia was one of the greatest left-handers of his generation, a career that lasted 19 seasons from 2001-19. He won 251 games, captured the American League Cy Young Award in 2007 and appeared in six All-Star Games over the course of his career playing for the Indians, Brewers and Yankees. He is also one of three left-handers in history to record 3,000 strikeouts in a career — Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson are the others.

 

 

 

Sabathia is expected to be wearing a Yankees cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.

 

 

 

“The Yankees [are a team that wanted me]. I signed there as a free agent [after the 2008 season],” Sabathia said. “I’ve been in New York for 16 years. I love the other organizations I played in. I wouldn’t be sitting here today if I wasn’t drafted by the Cleveland organization. I’m very thankful for Milwaukee trading for me…. But I found a home in the Bronx. I don’t think I’ll ever leave the city. It’s only fitting.”

 

 

Sabathia credits his success on the mound to pitching coach Carl Willis, who helped Sabathia develop his delivery when both were in the Minor Leagues starting in 1998. It was Willis, in fact, who taught Sabathia how to throw a four-seam fastball and the slider, his money pitch.

 

 

 

 

“Everything that I learned as a pitcher – mental wise, delivery wise and even holding a baseball – Carl Willis is responsible,” Sabathia said.

 

 

Sabathia’s best work on the mound occurred during the second half of 2008 when he was with the Brewers and the following season as a member of the Bronx Bombers.

 

 

After the Indians traded him to Milwaukee during the middle of the ‘08 season, Sabathia found himself in the middle pennant race and was filthy, winning 11 games with a 1.65 ERA and still led the team Bwar [4.9].

 

 

In his final three starts, in fact, Sabathia pitched once every three days – unheard in today’s modern game.

 

 

 

During that period, he allowed two earned runs in 22 ⅔ innings and helped Milwaukee reach the postseason before losing to the Phillies in the National League Division Series.

 

 

 

If he had to do it all over again, Sabathia wouldn’t change a thing on how he was used during the final weeks of the season.

 

 

It was more about those guys and us being so close and special were the reasons I took the ball so many times,” Sabathia said. “I felt I left a big impression in Milwaukee, but they left a huge impression on me. Some of those guys are life-long friends. Me and Prince Fielder are friends for life. Me and Bill Hall are friends for life. The time I spent in Milwaukee was very special to me.”

 

 

 

Sabathia became a free agent after the season and signed with the Yankees and made an immediate impact, leading the American League in victories [19] and finishing second behind teammate Derek Jeter in Bwar [6.2]. Sabathia’s best moments, however, came in the postseason, winning three games with a 1.98 ERA in five starts and capturing the American League Championship Series MVP against the Angels.

 

 

 

During the last three years of his career, Sabathia was no longer the power pitcher that made him an ace. Instead, he relied heavily on the cutter. It took him a while to get used to the fact that he had to find another way to get hitters out.

 

 

 

“I had to think my way through lineups. I just couldn’t go out and bulldog my way through a lineup,” Sabathia said. “I have to go out and really be thoughtful about the way I’m going to pitch guys. It made me appreciate Jamie Moyer.

 

 

 

“Earlier in my career, I would watch Moyer pitch and say, ‘How is he doing this at 83 [miles per hour]? Balls wouldn’t leave the infield. As I got older, I go, ‘OK, that’s how he is doing it.’ I turned myself into my version of Jamie Moyer is what I felt like – backdoor sliders, changeups, cutters on your hands, two seamers off the plate. Just doing what I could to navigate a lineup, get outs with soft contact.”

 

 

 

Now, Sabathia is a Hall of Famer. He remembers the first time he went into the plaque room in Cooperstown a few years back.

 

 

 

“I almost cried. I had no idea. Current players should go to the Hall of Fame. … It’s so inspiring,” Sabathia said. “It gives you something to shoot for. I wish I would have taken Ichiro up on his offer and drove up there every offseason to be inspired. It’s something to see and play for.”

 

Rest In Peace Rickey Henderson: Dave Stewart Remembers ‘The Man of Steal’ With a Relationship Dating Back To High School

Rest In Peace Rickey Henderson: Dave Stewart Remembers ‘The Man of Steal’ With a Relationship Dating Back To High School

by | Dec 23, 2024 | THE THREE SPOT

It’s been two days since Baseball Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson passed away at the age of 65. One of his best friends in the game, former big leaguer Dave Stewart, can’t believe the Man of Steal has gone to the other side.

 

The last time Stewart saw Henderson was in late October at the Reggie Jackson Softball Classic at the Oakland Coliseum. Henderson was in great spirits and enjoying the event in his hometown. As Stewart puts it, he never saw Henderson have a bad day away from the game of baseball. Henderson loved life.

 

 

RELATED: Dave ‘Smoke” Stewart Was A Black Ace Supreme From Late 80s To Early 90s

 

“My parents were 93 and 103 when they passed and it’s a lot easier to accept. That’s more than a full life. But 65 [years of age], that’s a little bit harder pill to swallow,” Stewart said via telephone. “I woke up this morning and I’m still feeling the same way. … On top of that, [Henderson] didn’t seem like the person we would have this conversation about this soon.”

Black Ace Dave Stewart & Rickey Henderson’s Friendship Dates Back To High School 

 

The friendship between Stewart and Henderson goes as far back as high school in Oakland. Stewart was 15 and Henderson was a year younger competing against one another in the Babe Ruth league. The latter had dreams of playing football, but he was talked out of playing that sport and concentrated on baseball. His mother, Bobbie, didn’t want to see him get hurt on the gridiron. On the baseball field, Henderson had the speed, Stewart remembered, but he was a work in progress.

 

“He was a really good football athlete at that time. His baseball skills were decent. When he was playing baseball at the time, you could see he was a raw, but very confident individual for as long as I’ve known him,” Stewart said.   “… Rickey in high school was physically more developed than most kids his age. So you could see where he was going and what he would be. The rest of it was just really mature? Will he put everything together and become a Major League player?”

 

RELATED: Vince Coleman Discusses the Art Of the Stolen Base and the “Rickey Henderson” Influence | mlbbro.com

 

Henderson ended up becoming a Hall of Fame Player. He played in the show for 25 years and became the greatest leadoff hitter in history. He is the all-time leader in stolen bases [1,406], runs scored [2,295] and leadoff homers [81]. Let’s not forget that Henderson’s plate discipline was off the charts. He ended up with a .401 on-base percentage.

 

 

Peak Rickey Henderson: The 1980s and Early 90s

 

Henderson was at his peak in the 1980s and early ‘90s. From 1980-91, Henderson was a 10-time all-star and led the American League in stolen bases every year except for 1987. He won the American League Championship MVP in 1989 and the A.L. MVP a year later. Henderson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.

 

Stewart and Henderson accomplished a lot as teammates, winning the World Series title in 1989 and ‘93 with the A’s and Blue Jays, respectively. Stewart loved the fact that they were able to win it all in their hometown with Stewart winning the World Series MVP.

 

“The Oakland win was more to our hearts. We grew up in the bay – Oakland,” Stewart said. “We both grew up watching the Giants because the [Athletics were not around at first]. Who would have thought that we would be playing each other in the World Series. … It was more than baseball for us. It was love of the city and making our families proud.”

 

Dave Stewart Says Rickey Henderson Was A Great Family Man 

 

When he thinks about Henderson, the first thing that comes to Stewart’s mind is not baseball related; it’s the great family man he was off the field.

 

“The father that he was to his children. The husband that he was to his wife, Pamela. The son he was to mother, Bobbie. I had a chance to witness it firsthand – the kindness, the tenderness with his daughters,” Stewart said. “He respected Bobbie. He respected what she said. The things that she said meant something to him. He wanted to make sure that he pleased her. He was a tremendous father, husband and son.”