Friends in High Places: CC Sabathia, professional baseball player

By |  September 22, 2024 0 Comments
CC Sabathia (Photo: Associated Press / Elise Amendola)

CC Sabathia (Photo: Associated Press / Elise Amendola)

CC Sabathia, professional baseball player

A Major League Baseball pitcher for 19 seasons, CC Sabathia was a force to be reckoned with on the mound. The Vallejo, Calif.-native — born Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. — made his MLB debut in 2001 for the Cleveland Indians. The big lefty won the Cy Young Award in 2007 while helping the Indians make the playoffs, coming a game shy of the World Series.

After a short stint with the Milwaukee Brewers, Sabathia signed a seven-year, $161 million contract with the New York Yankees. In Yankee pinstripes, Sabathia led the MLB in wins in 2009 and 2010 and helped the Yankees win the World Series in 2009.

Sabathia retired from baseball in 2019, amassing a 251-161 record and more than 3,000 strikeouts. He was a six-time All-Star and the American League Championship Series MVP in 2009. Last month, the Cleveland Guardians inducted CC into their Hall of Fame.

Sabathia will debut on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in 2025 with a solid chance of being enshrined in Cooperstown.

“I love golf … it’s something I can be competitive at, and it’s low-impact,” Sabathia says. “(Conditions) are important, but it’s more important that these guys are appreciated for taking care of the golf course. The groundskeepers do a lot of work, and it’s hard. Even in other sports — baseball and football — and golf, I’m always appreciative of the grounds crew guys.”

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About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 25-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


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