(Editor’s note: During the month of February, The Athletic will highlight each member of the Black Aces, the 15 Black pitchers from either the United States or Canada to win 20 games in a Major League Baseball season. This series will conclude Feb. 28. Click here to read about the other members of the group.)
There are 15 members of the Black Aces, but only two — Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins — have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
That number could increase in the near future. CC Sabathia was one of baseball’s most dominant pitchers during his 19-year MLB career, and he is eligible for election to the Hall next year.
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“It’s incredible to be mentioned with Bob Gibson,” Sabathia told the YES Network. “Bob Gibson was my grandfather’s favorite pitcher. … It feels amazing to be able to say you’re a part of those groups or in those conversations.”
Sabathia is one of only three Black pitchers to reach 3,000 strikeouts, along with Gibson and Jenkins. Sabathia joined the Black Aces in 2010, after winning 21 games in his second season with the New York Yankees. It was a welcomed result for the pitcher who just missed 20 wins the season before, when he posted a 19-8 record in his first year in the Bronx.
Of Sabathia’s 251 career wins, 134 came during his final 11 years as a member of the Yankees.
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It was an impressive accomplishment for someone who originally didn’t want to play in New York. Sabathia, a Vallejo, Calif., native, was a free agent after the 2008 season and wanted to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers, however, never made him an offer. And the Yankees pursued him aggressively.
“Everything I knew about the clubhouse told me I did not want to be there. I had heard all the stories,” Sabathia said in his book, “Till The End,” with Chris Smith. “I talked to guys I trusted who had played for the Yankees, and they told me it was a nightmare. There are always big expectations with the Yankees, and if you’re not winning, you can’t go in the clubhouse and have fun.”
Once Sabathia signed with the Yankees, success came quickly. New York missed the postseason in 2008 but rebounded to win the 2009 World Series. Sabathia was the 2009 ALCS MVP, going 2-0 in that series with a 1.13 ERA and 12 strikeouts.
Sabathia’s name will be on the 2025 Hall of Fame ballot. He won 20-plus games only once, but he won at least 17 games six times and earned 19 wins four times. He led the AL in wins in 2009 and 2010, when he was a combined 40-15 on the mound. He also had 3,093 career strikeouts and a 3.74 ERA.
Fellow Black Ace Dwight Gooden met Sabathia in 1999. Gooden was in his 15th season in the majors and his second with Cleveland, and Sabathia, a first-round pick out of Vallejo High School in the 1998 MLB Draft, was an 18-year-old developing in Cleveland’s minor-league system. They have remained friends, and as someone who understood success in the New York spotlight, Gooden was impressed with the player Sabathia became — particularly playing in the Bronx.
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“What he was able to accomplish, and to do it in Yankee Stadium with so much demanded of you …” Gooden said. “No disrespect to anyone, but being a Black pitcher, I think you’ve got to do more. You just can’t be an average pitcher. You’ve got to bring it.
“He accepted the challenge, and he was the guy, a true leader in the clubhouse. He did well on the field and was great in the community.”
Sabathia made his major-league debut with Cleveland in April 2001 at age 20. The southpaw went 17-5 that season, and he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting.
Sabathia’s longevity was possible because he adapted with age. Baseball analyst and former MLB outfielder Doug Glanville said Sabathia “figured out the craft of pitching.” Sabathia came on the scene as a young, strong and powerful pitcher, but he began to value location and use different looks with his fastball. He also worked on his sinker.
“He became a power pitcher that learned finesse, learned movement and the value of letting the infield do the work,” Glanville said. “I remember watching that evolution because it doesn’t go that way a lot of times.”
Sabathia won the American League Cy Young Award in 2007, when he led the entire league in innings pitched (241) and led the AL in starts (34). (He would finish in the top five of Cy Young Award voting four other times.) Cleveland, however, struggled in an attempt for a postseason run in 2008, and with free agency looming, Sabathia was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in July.
Sabathia went 11-2 and helped the Brewers reach the postseason.
“They basically were pitching him every fourth day instead of every fifth day, and he just totally dominated,” Gooden said. “He really came into his own.”
As good of a pitcher he was, Sabathia’s weight often was a topic of discussion. He was listed at 6 foot 6 and 300 pounds. There weren’t many baseball players the size of NFL offensive linemen.
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He was always bigger than his peers, and that once led to a memorable exchange with Dusty Baker. Growing up in Vallejo, Sabathia would attend Baker’s baseball camps roughly an hour away in Sacramento, Calif.
“He said, ‘Mr. Baker, what do I have to do to make it to the big leagues and to have a sustained career?’” Baker recalled. “I told him, ‘The first thing you gotta do is lose weight.'”
Baker said Sabathia reminded him of that conversation after signing a seven-year, $161 million deal with the Yankees.
“He says, ‘Remember you told me the things that make it to the big leagues?’” Baker said. “He says, ‘Well, how am I doing? I ain’t lost no weight.’”
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Sabathia reached peak levels of success in baseball. He was a six-time All-Star, a Cy Young Award winner and a World Series champion. But Gooden was most proud of how Sabathia handled his darker times in New York. Sabathia admitted to battling alcoholism in 2015 and realized he needed help.
“That told me a lot about him as a person — forget the baseball player, just as a man,” said Gooden, who has had his own issues with drugs and alcohol. “Many times I knew (about my issues), but I was in denial. I didn’t have the courage, and I was worried about what people were going to say. But that told me he was definitely ready to get his life on track, and he’s been doing it.”
Sabathia retired from playing in 2019. He continues to do a lot of work in the community through his PitCCh In Foundation. And he has embraced a healthier lifestyle after tipping the scales at 342 pounds.
He was one of MLB’s best pitchers for nearly two decades, and the tales of his playing days, coupled with stories of his sobriety and health victories, could make for a great Hall of Fame speech — perhaps in 2025.
(Illustration: Ray Orr / The Athletic; top photo: Nick Laham / Getty Images)
