‘C’ you later

Posted by Zach Mentz on October 18, 2019 · 1 Comment 

“It’s kind of fitting, I threw until I couldn’t anymore,” Sabathia said. (Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP)

56,375.

That’s the number of pitches Carsten Charles Sabathia – best known as “CC” – threw in the Majors in both the regular season and postseason combined. What that figure doesn’t account for, however, is the added taxation of pitches thrown in Spring Training games, minor league games, bullpen sessions and before each inning.

That’s a lot of mileage.

CC Sabathia, the pitcher, was a gamer until the very end. He was also a fiery competitor. A clubhouse leader. A trusted ace. A Cy Young award winner. A World Series champion. And, eventually, a Hall of Famer.

CC Sabathia exits for the final time. (Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

With the Yankees’ 2019 season pushed closer and closer to the edge of extinction on Thursday night, so, too, was Sabathia’s career. The big lefty toed the slab for the final time at Yankee Stadium in ALCS Game 4, closing out an historic career.

Consider this, for perspective: Sabathia made his MLB debut five months before 9/11 as a 20-year-old rookie for the Cleveland Indians. Over his eight-year tenure in Cleveland, Sabathia established himself as a young, fireballing southpaw and one of the sport’s premier pitchers.

At the 2008 trade deadline, CC was dealt to Milwaukee as a half-season rental for a Brewers franchise starved for the postseason. As he often did, Sabathia delivered – a common theme throughout his career – for the Brewers, pitching to a 1.65 ERA across 17 regular season starts, leading the franchise to its first postseason berth in 26 years.

That winter, Sabathia, the prized jewel of the 2008-09 free agent class, signed a 7-year, $161 million contract with the Yankees. New York, as commonly known, is not for everybody. The barrage of media coverage and the often-unreasonable expectations of demanding fans can be intimidating, unforgiving and outright exhausting.

While some shrink under the bright lights and pressure, Sabathia was energized and unnerved. In his first season wearing pinstripes, Sabathia once again delivered, anchoring the pitching staff and leading the Yankees to their 27th World Series championship.

Ten years later, Sabathia entered the eighth inning of ALCS Game 4 in relief – a new, less-taxing role for his aging body – and took the mound at Yankee Stadium under a dark October sky. The wizened lefty manufactured the first two outs of the inning before his body finally relented.

After attempting a warm-up throw to see if his dislocated shoulder could withstand one final out to close the inning, and his career, it was clear that the end was finally here. Like a dog you take outside hoping for one final run before the goodbye visit to the vet, but realizing he can barely make it out the front door, CC Sabathia had thrown his final pitch.

The Cooperstown-bound pitcher was still into baseball, but there was no baseball left in the pitcher. No bullets left in the gun, the clip completely emptied.

“It’s kind of fitting, I threw until I couldn’t anymore,” Sabathia said the day after his final outing.

Future generations of baseball fans will know the name. They’ll scroll through and admire the stats. They’ll see his plaque in Cooperstown and hear the stories of his dominance in Cleveland, his half-season heroics in Milwaukee, and his World Series pedigree earned in New York.

And when those future fans ask you to what you remember most about Carsten Charles Sabathia, you can sum it up as simply as this:

CC Sabathia was a warrior. He pitched his ass off until his body broke. He emptied the damn tank. And he was great.

‘C’ you in Cooperstown.

(Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP)

Information courtesy of Baseball Reference.

Filed under MLB · Tagged with ALCS Game 4, CC Sabathia, Cleveland Indians, Cooperstown, Milwauke Brewers, MLB, New York, pitcher, Yankees