Yankees Icon CC Sabathia Expresses Hope Ahead of Baseball Hall of Fame Class Reveal
January 21, 2025
Six-time MLB All-Star CC Sabathia is anxiously awaiting what could be the crowning achievement of his storied 19-year career on Monday.
Hours before the Baseball Hall of Fame announces the voting results for the 2025 class, Sabathia posted a series of emojis as a quote tweet responding to an MLB video of what turned out to be his final pitch in the big leagues with the New York Yankees.
This year marks Sabathia's first time on the Hall of Fame ballot. He retired following the 2019 season, with his final appearance coming in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros.
Current tracking suggests Sabathia has no reason to be nervous as far as getting in. Among the 198 known ballots and 11 anonymous or unverifiable ballots from Hall-of-Fame voters, Sabathia is currently sitting at 92.8 percent.
The voting threshold to be inducted into the Hall of Fame is 75 percent. Even though the final results tend to lower the overall percentage vote for a player, it's highly unlikely Sabathia would be left off that many ballots to dip more than 17.8 percent.
This year's class is trending toward featuring four inductees. Sabathia's vote total ranks second behind Ichiro, who has been listed on every public ballot thus far. The Seattle Mariners legend is seeking to join Mariano Rivera as the only players ever elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously.
The other likely inductees include Billy Wagner, who is on the ballot for the final time, and Carlos Beltrán.
Sabathia's potential induction will be notable because there's no obvious starting pitching legend on the horizon who will be on the ballot any time soon. First-time eligible candidates in 2026 include Cole Hamels, Rick Porcello and Gio Gonzalez.
The best returning pitcher next year is Andy Pettitte, who has received 31.6 percent of the public vote so far in his eighth time on the ballot. There's very little chance he can make that big of a jump to get to 75 percent before falling off the ballot after 2028.
Zack Greinke, who hasn't formally retired from MLB despite not pitching since the 2023 season, could be the next guy after Sabathia. After Greinke, though, it probably won't be until the Justin Verlander/Max Scherzer/Clayton Kershaw group decide to hang up their cleats.
Sabathia pitched for 19 seasons with three different teams from 2001 to '19. He spent the bulk of his career with the Yankees from 2009 to '19, winning a World Series title in his first year with the club.
His career started with the Cleveland Guardians as the No. 20 pick in the 1998 MLB draft. He made his big-league debut in 2001, finishing second to Ichiro in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
Sabathia won the 2007 AL Cy Young award, finished in the top-five in Cy Young voting four other times and made the AL All-Star team six times. He ended his career with a 251-161 record, a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts in 561 games.
Over the course of his 19-year career, Sabathia's 66.5 FanGraphs' wins above replacement ranked second among all pitchers to Verlander (72.0).
The 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced on Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET.
