Sabathia, a HOFer, has No. 52 retired by Yanks -- and he treasures the latter more

NEW YORK – CC Sabathia first visited Yankee Stadium before the paint was dry, carrying the expectation of delivering a long-awaited championship across his broad shoulders. He loved the building immediately, and now he will always be part of it.

Sabathia’s No. 52 was retired by the Yankees on Friday, with a plaque to be installed in Monument Park. The left-hander’s schedule has been packed for more than a year, including induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but he suggested this ceremony might have meant the most.

“You don’t ever think you’re going to win the Yankees’ fans over,” Sabathia said. “To be able to be sitting here now, playing here 11 years, it’s an incredible feeling. That’s why I’ve said the last couple of weeks that this feels bigger to me than the Hall of Fame, because I knew what was at stake when I came here.”

Sabathia is the 24th Yankees player or manager to have his number retired, and the first since Paul O’Neill’s No. 21 on Aug. 21, 2022. The ceremony had initially been scheduled for Saturday – in fact, the plaque Sabathia helped unveil in the center of the infield bears Sept. 26, 2026, as its date of dedication.

When an impending Nor’easter prompted the postponement of Saturday’s game against the Orioles, Sabathia was asked if he wanted to delay the ceremony until next season.

“They gave us the option to kick it to next year,” Sabathia said. “But with everybody that we had in town, trying to get this done – I was kind of tired of ceremonies. I’ve been doing ceremonies for two years straight. I’m like, ‘Let’s get this done.’”

Former teammates Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Dellin Betances and Chris Young were on the field for the presentation, looking on as Sabathia, his wife Amber and his mother Margie were driven around the warning track in a golf cart.

“He’s one of my favorite teammates that I’ve ever had,” Jeter said. “He showed up and he pitched every five days. He was a true ace. He’s one of the major reasons why we won a championship in ’09.”

Messages from Joe Girardi and Jorge Posada were also played on the large center-field video board.

“He played the game the right way,” Posada said. “He wore the pinstripes with a lot of class. He was a great part of this organization and a great part of the Yankee family.”

Sabathia signed a seven-year, $161 million contract with the Yankees in December 2008, then the largest deal issued to a free-agent pitcher. He thanked general manager Brian Cashman for helping him make what he called “the best decision I ever made in my life.”

Initially hesitant to pitch in New York, Sabathia was eventually sold on the idea of being a clubhouse connector. He bridged a gap between the “Core Four” (Jeter, Pettitte, Posada and Mariano Rivera) and newcomers like A.J. Burnett, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher, who would help raise the 2009 World Series trophy in their new building.

“I just thought, ‘I’m so lucky,’” Sabathia said. “I got a chance to play in Cleveland, which was basically brand new when I got there. Milwaukee had a brand new ballpark, and I loved the old Yankee Stadium, but it was kind of tiny. When I heard about this place opening and getting a chance to come here in December of ’08, I was super excited to get a chance to open this place up.”

Over 11 seasons in pinstripes, Sabathia pitched to a 134-88 record with a 3.81 ERA and 1,700 strikeouts in 307 games (306 starts).

Sabathia’s career ended on the Yankee Stadium mound during the 2019 postseason, when he sustained a left shoulder dislocation – a “perfect” conclusion in Sabathia’s view, considering he prided himself upon leaving it all out on the mound.

“I had started telling Amber, ‘Man, I think I can pitch out of the bullpen,’” Sabathia said. “The baseball gods were like, ‘No, we’re going to cut that out.’ I would still be trying to pitch.”

When Cooperstown came calling, setting Sabathia’s first-ballot induction for the summer of 2025, his plaque bore the interlocking “NY” logo. Sabathia said he “loved every minute of pitching in the pinstripes,” and now Yankee Stadium will feature another permanent reminder of his impact.

“It’s surreal to think that I’ll come here now and look up, and see my number out there,” Sabathia said.