The National Baseball Hall of Fame unveiled their Class of 2025 tonight, and one of the members who will be inducted this July is left-handed pitcher CC Sabathia. Sabathia pitched in 19 seasons with the Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, and the New York Yankees.
The Cleveland Indians drafted Sabathia as the 20th overall selection in the first round of the 1998 MLB Draft out of Vallejo High School in Vallejo, California. Before making his MLB debut in 2001, Sabathia was selected to the United States Olympic Team in 2000, part of their 28-man roster. He would pitch in one pre-Olympic tournament game in Sydney, Australia. He was not included on the United States 24-man roster due to being called up by the Indians.
After making his debut in 2001, he pitched with the Guardians until the 2008 season, during which time he became a three-time All-Star, finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Ichiro Suzuki, and won the American League Cy Young Award in 2007. In 2008, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, who were chasing a shot at the playoffs.
During the 2008 offseason, Sabathia signed a seven-year contract with the New York Yankees for $161 million. He led the American League in wins for the 2009 and 2010 seasons and helped the Yankees win the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009. He would play with the Yankees until 2019 when he retired at the end of the season.
In Sabathia’s 19-year career, he pitched to a career 251-161 record, a 3.74 ERA in 560 starts in 561 appearances, throwing 12 complete-game shutouts, striking out 3,093 batters over 3,577.1 innings of work. He would finish as a six-time All-Star, one Cy Young Award, and a World Series Championship.
