Mike Lupica: Great Yankees end up in the Hall of Fame and CC Sabathia is no exception

CC Sabathia adds different C to his sanction now, for Cooperstown, present that helium becomes the latest large Yankee to go a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He besides proudly joins a database of the champion left-handed starters the Yankees person ever had, successful determination with Whitey Ford, the champion of them all, and Ron Guidry and Andy Pettitte, each the mode backmost to Lefty Gomez. But mostly CC Sabathia goes successful determination arsenic what helium ever was successful baseball, adjacent earlier helium arrived astatine Yankee Stadium. He goes successful arsenic an ace.

And helium was not conscionable immoderate ace. He was the 1 the Yankees needed the past clip they won a World Series, backmost successful 2009, erstwhile helium enactment different pitching unit connected his back, this clip successful New York. In a shot beingness of truthful galore large games, adjacent erstwhile helium didn’t person the limb anymore, helium conscionable wanted the ball. Short remainder oregon not, conscionable due to the fact that helium was ever agelong connected heart.

He ever reminded you of the communicative astir Guidry, earlier the Bucky Dent playoff crippled against the Red Sox successful 1978. The Yankees had been beaten connected Sunday by Cleveland and present manager Bob Lemon needed a starter for the adjacent time astatine Fenway Park. Guidry was of people magnificent that year, 25-3. But helium hadn’t made a azygous commencement connected abbreviated rest. Lemon was unsocial successful the Yankee dugout, an hr oregon truthful aft the nonaccomplishment to the Indians, considering his options, erstwhile Guidry went and recovered him.

“I’ll instrumentality the ball,” helium said, and definite did connected 1 of the astir celebrated October afternoons the Yankees person ever had.

That was CC Sabathia, successful Cleveland and concisely successful Milwaukee and past successful New York. Give him the ball. Even adjacent the end, successful 2017, with his fastball gone and his knees shot, a mates of years aft helium had made the determination to spell to rehab and get sober — aft each of the miles helium had connected him, some connected and disconnected the tract — Joe Girardi inactive gave him the shot against the Astros successful Game 7 of the ALCS. He was 37. It was 8 years aft he’d been MVP of the ALCS against the Angels, connected his mode to the Canyon of Heroes. But helium inactive had capable limb near to spell 14-5 that year. And was retired determination for 1 much large game.

“You ne'er instrumentality these opportunities for granted,” Sabathia said earlier that Game 7 start, and helium ne'er did, whether it was Game 1 successful October oregon Game 7.

There was a shining Game 5 against the Orioles 1 time, backmost successful 2012. Buck Showalter was managing the Orioles then, and it was Showalter who’d ever said, “You cognize an ace erstwhile you spot one.” CC Sabathia was each of that astatine Yankee Stadium that night, pitching a implicit crippled and giving the Orioles conscionable 4 hits and a run.

In the end, helium pitched astir 20 years successful the large leagues, won 251 games against 161 losses, vocation earned tally mean of 3.74. Maybe helium can’t retrieve however galore of those games he pitched hungover, aft different agelong nighttime of drinking brandy, oregon immoderate other was handy. But helium kept showing up, and kept winning, truthful often with dazzling stuff, until the champion of it for him, aft helium signed his large escaped cause declaration with the Yankees and came to New York.

But yet determination came the Sunday greeting successful Baltimore erstwhile helium showed up drunk astatine the ballpark and couldn’t instrumentality the ball, and walked distant from the Yankees and the past crippled of the regular season, connected his mode backmost home, then into rehab.

This is however helium described his alcoholism successful the good and honorable publication astir his life, “Till The End,” written with Chris Smith:

“I was a disciplined drunk for 15 years, truthful bully astatine timing my benders that I’d won a Cy Young grant and a title ringing and been paid $260 million. My vocation numbers looked arsenic if they mightiness yet springiness maine a changeable astatine being elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame. And possibly what meant the astir of each to maine was that my teammates — successful Cleveland, successful Milwaukee, successful New York — regularly said that they loved having maine connected their broadside and looked to maine arsenic a person successful the clubhouse.”

It is who helium was, and what helium was, crossed astir 2 decades. He was an ace successful Cleveland, and got traded to the Brewers, and adjacent connected the verge of escaped agency, helium kept pitching connected abbreviated remainder with the Brewers, yet pitching them into the postseason. Then it was connected to the Yankees, and being arsenic overmuch of a equine present was anyplace else, 230 innings his archetypal play arsenic a Yankee, 237.2 aft that and 237.1 aft that. He had 1 of those arms until helium didn’t. But inactive kept winning, inactive won those 14 games successful ’17 aft getting sober.

I asked Chris Smith the different time if CC ever spoke overmuch astir the Hall of Fame erstwhile they were doing their book.

“He talked much astir wherefore Pettitte and Andruw Jones merit to get successful much than himself,” Smith said. “Classic CC.”

Classic CC Sabathia, connected his mode to Cooperstown now. It is wherever large Yankees are expected to extremity up. He was one.