Editor's note: This story originally ran on May 1, 2019.
When CC Sabathia was a free agent in the fall of 2008 and deeply skeptical about the idea of signing to play in New York, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman recruited with the Steinbrenner family checkbook, but also with a personal appeal.
Sabathia was needed to improve the Yankees' rotation, of course, but Cashman also told Sabathia he viewed him as someone who could immediately walk into the clubhouse and change what the GM believed had become a staid and stiff culture. Cashman had heard all the stories about what an exceptional teammate Sabathia was, about Sabathia's instincts for drawing players away from potential cliques and pulling in those on the fringes.
Swayed by a record-setting offer, Sabathia did all that Cashman envisioned, dominating hitters as the Yankees went on to win the 2009 World Series and, at the same time, improving the working conditions for those who call the Yankees' clubhouse home by the way he treats others. This should be part of what will be an unconventional Hall of Fame résumé for Sabathia, part of the reason he will deliver an induction speech at Cooperstown one day.
On Tuesday night, Sabathia joined Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson as the only left-handers in major league history to register 3,000 strikeouts. When his playing career ends, some of his other career numbers will be less gaudy when compared with current Hall of Famers. His adjusted ERA+ is 117, markedly below the likes of Tom Seaver (127) but in the same neighborhood as Tom Glavine (118) and Gaylord Perry (117). Sabathia's career ERA is 3.69, higher than most pitchers who have earned plaques in Cooperstown. In Sabathia's age 32 to 34 seasons, very productive for most Hall of Famers, he was greatly affected by injuries, allowing 66 homers and posting a 4.81 ERA.
But Sabathia also had a distinct period of pre-eminence in his career. In the seven-year period of 2006 to 2012, he finished in the top five in the Cy Young voting five times, including the year he won it, in 2007. Sabathia routinely was among the leaders in starts, innings and wins, and in 2008, the summer leading up to his free agency, he was the most coveted trade piece in the market, moving from the Cleveland Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers in a midseason deal. In just a few months in Milwaukee, he carried that team to its first playoff appearance in more than a quarter-century, repeatedly making starts on short rest in the last weeks.
Back in the winter of 2007, a large cross section of baseball writers who participated in the annual Hall of Fame selection process effectively weaponized a dormant part of the criteria when they used the character clause -- a set of 23 words that had been almost obsolete for decades -- to deal with the candidacy of Mark McGwire. For many voters, McGwire's choice to use performance-enhancing drugs was disqualifying, and with their ballots that winter, they set a precedent that has been used every year since.
Character matters, in their eyes, and because of this, McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and other stars of the steroid era have failed to gain induction. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens -- players who were all-time statistical giants -- have barely nudged upward the past two winters and might fail to gain election before their 10 years of ballot eligibility expires.
Character matters, in the eyes of so many writers.
If character is to be weighed so heavily, disqualifying even, then Sabathia's character should vault him to a breezy, first-ballot election. Even at the most challenging moment of his career, when Sabathia entered alcohol rehabilitation on the eve of the 2015 postseason, he was a model of accountability -- fully acknowledging a problem, handling it with such grace that he deepened the respect of teammates who already cherished him.
During Sabathia's brief time with the Brewers, when Milwaukee began to deploy him on three days' rest, his agent at the time, Brian Peters, did what was required in his job of protecting his client's interests and called the team's front office to raise concerns. Sabathia had many tens of millions of dollars at stake because of his impending free agency, and it was unfair to ask him to repeatedly take the ball and assume a heightened risk of injury.
Word about his agent's call got back to Sabathia, who immediately phoned Peters and chastised him. As Peters later recalled, Sabathia told him forcefully: I'm going to do everything I can to help these guys get to the playoffs. And Sabathia added in a brotherly way, Now get over here and let's get some lunch, and I'm going to yell at you some more.
Sabathia has been a Hall of Fame-caliber pitcher and an all-time great person and teammate, and that should matter when his name appears on the ballot.