CC Sabathia on what it means for the Yankees to retire his number 52

CC Sabathia has already been immortalized in baseball history after being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025, but he will join an even more exclusive club in the Bronx later this year.

The New York Yankees will retire Sabathia’s number 52, adding him as the 23rd recipient of one of the highest honors in sports. Sabathia’s name and number will enter the hallowed baseball field that is Monument Park, which lies behind the center field wall of Yankee Stadium, a place Sabathia had always admired but never thought he would enter even today, much less in 2009, when he joined the team as a free agent.

After 11 seasons with the franchise and a World Series ring, among other accolades, he received the call from owner Hal Steinbrenner.

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“I keep thinking about what a great honor it is and how excited I am to have my number retired by probably one of the best sports franchises in the world,” Sabathia told Pak Gazette Digital two days after receiving the call that his number would be retired. “When you first come to New York, you see all the numbers. You understand Monument Park, but you never think you’re going to be able to get there, right? As a free agent, you come in like, ‘I’ll never be able to do enough to match Whitey Ford, or to match what Ron Guidry meant to this organization.’

“To be honest, to be able to make that happen after 11 years and see my number be there and be retired, it’s more impactful than getting into the Hall of Fame. I’m not going to say I’m more honored. Obviously getting into the Hall of Fame is the ultimate. But being in the Yankees Hall of Fame is a crazy, select group of players who have done some really good things in the history of baseball. To be a part of that group is really special.”

Sabathia was a three-time All-Star and American League Cy Young Award winner, coming off a career-best 2.70 ERA with the then-Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers when he entered free agency before the 2009 season.

Sabathia was a top target for many MLB teams and knew he could make an impact with any team he chose. But even Sabathia, who was stuck on the mound every five days throughout his career up to that point, had at least some doubts in his mind when the New York Yankees called on him to bring his talents to the Bronx.

“Even sit back and think about how Cash [GM Brian Cashman] “He convinced me to come here,” Sabathia said. “I never gave myself space to think about ending up in Monument Park, or how it would end up. You see so many free agents come here, whether it’s the media, the pressure of pitching in the Bronx in the pinstripes, and that’s all you hear about. You never talk about the guy who comes here and ends up in Monument Park.”

Sabathia eventually agreed to a seven-year deal with the Yankees worth $161 million, and yes, Cashman opted out after three seasons because not even Sabathia was immune to the pitching pressure in the Bronx.

But he accomplished what everyone who joins the Yankees hopes to accomplish in pinstripes: win a World Series. He did so in his inaugural season, leading a rotation that also featured free agent newcomer AJ Burnett and fellow Monument Park member Andy Pettitte. And after those three seasons, it was an easy decision for Sabathia to opt in, adding another season on top of the remaining years he had left.

CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees celebrates in the dugout with a copy of the New York Post after their 7-3 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies in game six of the 2009 World Series at Yankee Stadium on November 4, 2009 in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Sabathia pitched to a 3.81 ERA in 307 Yankee starts (1,918 innings) with 1,700 strikeouts, taking him over the rare 3,000 strikeout mark. Only three left-handers in MLB history had accomplished the feat before Sabathia.

So what started out as not necessarily knowing what would happen when making the Bronx your home, quickly turned into embracing the vibrant, raucous city and its fan base. Even today, Sabathia still gets called when he walks near E. 161st Street or attends a game at Yankee Stadium, which he says is about 50 a year.

“I loved every moment of my time in the Bronx and the energy everyone brought,” he said. “The days I started, I was driving around the Bronx. I was driving down Jermone Ave., with the windows down, blasting my music just to get a feel for the people and the energy and get ready for what I’m about to do.

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“It was tough coming here because it’s a lot, but I loved being a part of the Yankee Universe with the fans and the organization. I’m excited to be able to address them and talk to them about the responsibility they have for every player who wears the pinstripes.”

Even as a 20-year-old thriving in Cleveland’s minor league system he knew what pinstripes meant to every baseball player, when the Indians called him back from the Sydney Olympics in 2000 to potentially make his major league debut in the Bronx. Sabathia’s first trip to Monument Park has quite a story.

“I had been on the Olympic team. I was going to throw in the Olympics,” he began. “[I] I went to the opening ceremony, they called me that night. The Indians needed me to get back to New York, because they had a bunch of doubleheaders in Boston and New York, and they might need me to pitch. So I fly from Australia to San Diego and spend the night there. Then fly to Winter Haven, [Florida] which is where our spring training was, and then they flew me to New York.

CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees greets the crowd as he is honored before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on September 22, 2019 in New York City. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

“The next day, I wake up and I’m supposed to pitch a bullpen, so I get to the stadium and I actually went the wrong way. I walked all the way through the tunnel in the [old] stadium and ended up in the batting cage. There were some guys there, I think Moose [Mike Mussina] He was down there doing his job, and he pointed me in the other direction, around the other side of the stadium, to where you had to walk through Monument Park, because Monument Park was in the bullpen. “So, I’m walking around and I see all these different statues and all these different things, and my pitching coach is there mad at me because now I’m 15 minutes late.”

Unfortunately, Sabathia didn’t make his MLB debut until the 2001 season, when pitching coach Dick Pole watched him throw just three pitches and determined, “Damn, he’s not ready,” as the 45-year-old chuckled just thinking about the moment.

“I do like 10 more pitches and walk around Monument Park to take it all in,” he added. “When I came back in, there was a ticket on my seat to go home.”

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It’s fun and rewarding for Sabathia to look back and see everything that happened. Of course, he did so last year, entering that illustrious Cooperstown Hall. But he never expected to be forever remembered by one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world.

On the other hand, he went out on the mound and gave it his all when it was his turn to take the field, like all the other players whose numbers reside in Monument Park. In fact, Sabathia literally pitched until his arm fell off: He suffered a dislocated left shoulder during Game 4 of the American League Championship Series in 2019. And Sabathia is currently rehabbing a knee replacement, which he says he’s also been putting off since his retirement.

But he knew that was what it took to pitch for the Yankees in the Bronx, where fans hold everyone accountable regardless of their stature in the league. Whether you’re a Cy Young winner like Sabathia then, or a three-time MVP like Aaron Judge today, fans don’t discriminate when it comes to boos for poor performances.

It’s something Sabathia loves most about the Bronx, and he can’t wait to tell you about it on September 26, when his number rolls into Monument Park and goes up on that wall behind the bleachers in left field.

CC Sabathia poses for a photo with his plaque during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center on July 27, 2025 in Cooperstown, New York. (New York Yankees/Getty Images)

“I think I’ll always think about the responsibility that the fans demand of you. It’s something I’m grateful for. You never really get a chance to give up when you’re in New York, and like Jeet [Derek Jeter] He always used to say, ‘Be humble.’ “It keeps you humble no matter how good you are,” he said.

When Sabathia sees his new plaque that will spend an eternity in Monument Park, he will read exactly what it meant to the Yankees franchise and, more importantly, why it belongs to the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and many more. As someone who was willing to pitch at a division rival and get ejected in retaliation for a previous hit, wasting $500,000 in an incentive bonus in the process, Sabathia knows what he’d like written for Yankees fans to see now and always when they walk through Monument Park.

“He left everything out there. He was the best teammate and he literally left everything out there every time he got the ball. Every five days,” Sabathia said.

“How much I competed, how much I wanted to win. I literally left everything out there. My shoulder, my knee. But I always strived to be the best teammate I could be, and hopefully they can put that on the plaque.”

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