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Baseball is his passion. Family is his life.
The Brewers are his team.
These are what the Cleveland Indians’ CC Sabathia brings every time he steps on the mound. Standing at 6’7” and with his trademark hat cocked slightly to the side, Sabathia has the build of a professional football player and the heart of a champion to go along with his flame throwing left arm.
His imposing presence on the mound belies a community and family oriented man off it. CC Sabathia is active with the Cleveland Indians off-the-field and performs lots of community service of his own accord. He will donate a total of $250,000 over the life of his current contract with Cleveland to the Larry Doby RBI Program via a donation to Cleveland Indians Charities.
For the ace of the Cleveland Indians’ staff, it all started in Vallejo, California where he was a three sport athlete – football, basketball and baseball. In addition to his baseball prowess, scouts were also interested in what he could do on the gridiron as the all-conference Tight End actually had a signed letter of intent with the University of Hawaii to play football before being selected as the 20th overall pick in the 1998 Amateur Draft. Sabathia wasn’t just a ballplayer, he’s also been an athlete and that’s just what the Indians got.
After blowing through the minor league competition, it wasn’t long before CC got the call to the “show.” In 2001, barely 20 years old, he burst onto the Major League scene as the league’s youngest player at the time and won 17 games while also amassing an impressive 171 strikeouts. His success as a rookie was instrumental in helping the Indians reach the American League Division Series where CC won the only game he pitched. There was no doubt at the end of the season that Sabathia’s performance had announced loud and clear that he was here to stay. Baseball experts acknowledged that as he finished 2nd in the American Rookie of the Year voting to the Seattle Mariners’ Japanese import, Ichiro Suzuki.
Over the next five seasons, CC was selected to the All Star team twice and put up double digit wins and strong strikeout totals in each of those seasons.
Despite already being a two-time All-Star, Sabathia’s real breakthrough season came in 2006 in which he recorded a career low 3.22 ERA which was good for 3rd in the American League. Most notably, he cut his walk totals by more than 20 from the previous year and by more than 50 compared with his rookie year. With fewer baserunners reaching, Sabathia thrived and was able to stay as aggressive as ever on the mound. He delivered more complete games than any other pitcher in the American League, a testament to his ability to stay strong deep into games when his team needed him. With his electric stuff, the Majors took notice in 2006 that he wasn’t just a gas-throwing up and comer anymore but that he was a complete pitcher, more dangerous than ever.
Entering the 2007 season, Sabathia had collected 81 career wins and is a good bet to get his 100th win this season at the young age of 27. Since his first pitch thrown in 2000 as a 20 year old on a 92 win team, Sabathia has shown steady improvement. And since the first pitch of the 2007 season, Sabathia has been among the top across all the major pitching leader boards. He’s once again improved on his walk rate while keep his ERA down. With more run support than he’s had in previous years, he’s been able to deliver in the win column and will threaten his previous career high of 17, achieved in his rookie season.
While the fans in Cleveland are thrilled to see the gentle giant Sabathia fulfilling his immense promise as a frontline starter on a contending team, there can be no fan happier than his mom, Margie Sabathia.
At an early age, she instilled the importance of family into CC. With a strong base and belief in yourself, CC knew he could accomplish anything. “Be confident” she always told him “but be humble too.” CC knows he’s blessed to have a mother who understands sports and was able to help him understand to appreciate the game, fulfill his God-given ability and above all, to display good sportsmanship.
“We talk about everything,” Sabathia says. “She understands the game big-time. I’ve been able to talk about sports with her – all sports – since I was 12.”
When he steps out on the mound, the lessons she taught him as a child ring loudly in his head. What will his legacy be? How can he have an impact on people’s lives? That’s the importance of displaying good sportsmanship. It might be tough when you have the talent Sabathia has and the success he had at such a young age but “she always made sure I was humble and appreciated the game.”
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His wife Amber now helps to keep CC happy, healthy and focused. Amber and CC are the American Dream – high school sweethearts who remain happily married to this day. She shares in all his successes and helps him the through the highs and lows of the grind of a 162 game season, which will hopefully last deep into October for many seasons to come.
Now the fans of Cleveland can appreciate the man and the player Sabathia has become and make it an even bigger family. As CC lives his dream as a professional athlete, he looks forward to passing on the lessons he’s learned both on and off the field to his own family including his two amazing children – CC and Jaden.
When all is said and done, there’s no reason not believe that CC can continue to pile up the wins in front of the amazing fans on the lake. Sabathia is spearheading the Indians’ resurgence in one of America’s great baseball cities. CC knows what’s at stake for the city and for his team and yearns to be a part of a championship with the organization where he started his career. So he puts every bit of his 6’7”, 290 pound frame into every pitch that he throws.
opcorn:
