The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum officially welcomed five distinguished members on Sunday. This year’s induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, honored the 2025 Hall of Fame class, led by pitcher CC Sabathia, and outfielders Ichiro Suzuki, Dick Allen and Dave Parker. In addition, reliever Billy Wagner also made the cut. The five-person Hall of Fame class is the largest since seven people were inducted in 2022.
CC Sabathia Makes MLB History With Hall of Fame Induction
Thousands of baseball fans ascended on the lawn outside the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown. For Black baseball fans, and fans of the 6.2 percent Black players in the game, this was a special moment. The former New York Yankees star became the third Black starting pitcher in MLB history to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, following the great Ferguson Jenkins and the legendary Bullet Big Gibson.
Sabathia played 19 big-league seasons from 2001-19 with Cleveland (2001-08), the Brewers (2008), and the Yankees (2009-19). He retired with a 251-161 record and a 3.74 ERA. The lethal lefty’s 3,093 strikeouts are third most all-time among left-handers. Sabathia was a consistent innings eater who understood the purpose of his craft. He won a Cy Young award with Cleveland (2007) and a World Series championship with the Yankees (2009). He was the ALCS MVP in 2009. The first-ballot Hall of Famer received 86.8% of the BBWAA’s vote.
“(My wife) Amber and I have always been ‘we,'” Sabathia said during his speech. “We picked the Yankees. We bought a house in New Jersey. 17 years later, that’s where we still live. It’s where we raised our family. When I wrote my book, I dedicated it to our children because that’s still our biggest accomplishment together to this day. The best part of being retired is watching what our kids do.”
CC Wants To Find The Next Black Pitching Superstar
CCs on the field exploits are well known, but his contributions to helping to grow the game, particularly in inner-city communities can’t be ignored. He’s worked with the Player’s Alliance to bring more visibility to Black baseball players, particularly in HBCUs. He’s participated in The Hank Aaron Invitational and Breakthrough Series, which provide minority ballplayers with the specialized mentorship, training and guidance that many players from urban and underserved communities don’t get.
So as Sabathia now continues his path in life and baseball, as a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, he will use his influence to continue to cultivate the game. An accomplishment that he is most proud of.
“The thing I had a chance to speak to Fergie (Jenkins) about and understand the third Black pitcher to have 3,000 strikeouts and be a Black Ace and all these different things. The one thing that keeps crossing my mind though is who’s next. And I feel like through the Players Alliance and some of the efforts we are putting together for this next generation.
He continued: “I almost feel more responsibility now, to be on guys about being that next Black Ace, whether it’s Taj Bradley or now, Chase Burns or Hunter Greene or anyone else. I don’t want to be the last Black pitcher to be in the Hall of Fame and do all these things. I’m incredibly honored by and humbled that I am, but now it’s got me on the search of who’s next and what can I do to get that person or kid on the mound and in the right direction as a starting pitcher.”
CC Sabathia Is The 14th of 15 Black Aces: Brothers With 20-Win Seasons
In addition to his accolades that have significant cultural impact on the history of baseball, CC is a prestigious member of “The Black Aces,”as one of 15 Black players in history who have won 20 games in a season. The group was started by Jim “Mudcat” Grant. Don Newcombe became the first member on the list with 20 wins for the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers and CC Sabathia was the second-to-last member to be admitted with 21 victories for the 2010 New York Yankees. David Price was the last to win 20 in 2012 for the Tampa Bay Rays.
The rest of the list is an array of golden arms with deeply defined personal stories of struggle, triumph and overcoming the odds. In addition to Price, Grant, Newcombe and Sabathia, there’s Vida Blue, Al Downing, Bob Gibson, Ferguson Jenkins (even though he’s Canadian), Dwight Gooden, Sam Jones, Mike Norris, J.R. Richard, Dave Stewart, Earl Wilson and Dontrelle Willis.
Endless think pieces are written about why there has been this drastic decline in African-American participation in baseball from the grass roots level on up from the pricing of travel ball to blaming the allure of basketball and other sports. Lack of Black fathers in the home. Systemic issues that prevent Black players from advancing and staying in the game.
CC Sabathia Wants To Make Sure He’s Not The Last Black Hall of Fame Pitcher
CC doesn’t care why the numbers are declining. There were never a bunch of Black pitchers in MLB. Most Black players are position guys. In addition to the traditional deterrents for Black pitchers, Sabathia says the art of pitching itself has changed.
When asked in a recent podcast what he thought of today’s pitching, CC didn’t mince words.
“I f-ken hate it,” said the pitcher tied with Bob Gibson for the most career wins by a Black Ace with 251. “They’re teaching velocity now. When we grew up they didn’t teach us velocity. We just happened to throw hard. I can take my 12-year-old right now and in five years I can make him throw 90 miles per hour. That doesn’t mean he’s gonna know where the fucken balls are going. That’s why now it’s a lot less pitchers and a lot more pitchers. They go out for four or five innings, throw the ball as hard as they can and then they get the next guy to do it.”
Baseball is evolving and changing like every other pro sport. The purists and traditionalists don’t want to see such drastic changes in the overall culture of the game. The younger generations and those open to whatever baseball’s leading minds decide is the new wave will continue to love the game regardless of how many innings pitchers throw or how low overall batting averages get. Or if instant replay or even robot umpires is instituted.
The journey to MLB is more complicated for Black players these days for many reasons. Some socioeconomic, some systemic and other much less nefarious reasons. Either way, CC is making a great point about helping to develop the next generation of young, Black and gifted pitchers.
