From Vallejo to Cooperstown: The Journey of CC Sabathia

Today, July 27, the Vallejo, California native Carsten Charles Sabithia Jr., known as CC, has officially been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a first ballot HOFer.

CC debuted back on April 8, 2001, for the Cleveland Indians, now known as the Guardians, where he spent his first 6 ½ seasons. Before eventually getting traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for the remainder of the 2008 season, and went on one of the most legendary two-month runs you will ever see from a pitcher. 

In his two months with the Brewers, he put that team on his back, consistently pitching on three days' rest. In 17 starts, he put together an 11-2 W/L record, a 1.65 ERA, with 130 strikeouts, across 130.2 innings pitched, with seven complete games, and three of those being complete game shutouts to carry the Brewers to the playoffs. CC led the AL and NL in shutouts in 2008.

Unfortunately, CC ran out of gas in the playoffs in 2008 and got rocked a bit against the Phillies, but he would get the last laugh a year later when he put on the pinstripes. 

"So, going into that off-season and now Amber and I, you know, have this huge decision we have to make," CC said during his documentary Under The Grapefruit Tree. "We have three kids. And you know we know that we're going to free agency and we're going to be set up for the rest of our lives. So wherever we play is where we're going to live. We want to raise the kids. So it was more than just a baseball decision that we had to make. And on the first day of free agency, the Yankees offered me a contract." 

On December 8, 2008, CC signed a seven-year, $161 million contract with the then-26-time World Series champions, the New York Yankees. CC was a horse for the Yankees in 2009 across 34 starts; he put together a 3.37 ERA, with 230 innings pitched, and 197 strikeouts. More importantly, what he did in October 2009 in the playoffs across five starts, CC had a 3-1 record, a 1.98 ERA, 32 strikeouts, and 36.1 innings pitched, and was named the 2009 ALCS MVP, helping lead the Yankees to their 27th World Series title against the Phillies. 

CC would go on to spend 11 seasons in pinstripes from 2009 to 2019, putting together a 134-88 record, with a 3.81 ERA, 1,700 strikeouts, and 1,918 innings pitched across 306 starts. 

CC was always known for sticking up for his teammates, most notably back in September 2018 in Tampa Bay against the Rays when he was seven innings away from a $500,000 bonus. CC was coasting well on his way to the seven innings he needed. Then the Yankees catcher, Austin Romine, was thrown at, and in the following inning, CC responded by hitting the Rays catcher, Jesus Sucre, leading to his ejection and the benches clearing. CC would eventually receive that bonus anyway. 

“Yeah, I think we all took exception to that,” CC said in his postgame press conference. “I think anytime you players' safety is in jeopardy, I think all guys take exception to that, and we all did. But you know it is what it is, they did what they did, and whatever happened after that.”

In CC’s legendary career, he had 3,093 strikeouts, only the 18th pitcher to ever accomplish that feat at the time, and only the 3rd African American pitcher to ever accomplish that. CC also had 251 career wins, a 3.74 career ERA, with 38 complete games and 12 shutouts, along with being named the 2007 AL Cy Young Award Winner, and a six-time All-Star. 

"I'm nervous, obviously," CC said. "You know, you walk through the hall or the lobby here, you see all these Hall of Famers walking through, and you're like, what am I doing here? You know you kind of feel like a fan all over again. But I'm excited. Like, I know the speech is looming in the back of my mind, in the back of everybody's mind, but it's gonna happen. It was a village of people that got me to this spot."