CLEVELAND, Ohio — As CC Sabathia prepares for his enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Cleveland legend is using his platform to advocate for overlooked stars and the future of Black players in baseball.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his Cooperstown induction, the former Cleveland first-round draft pick who spent eight seasons with the Indians and won a Cy Young Award in 2007, made a passionate case for his former teammate Kenny Lofton’s Hall of Fame credentials.
Lofton, a six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove Award winner, fell off a crowded Hall of Fame ballot after just one year of eligibility in 2013 with several steroid-era sluggers becoming eligible for the first time that year.
Sabathia said none of that matters when looking at Lofton’s total body of work.
“Having a chance to play with Kenny Lofton, just understanding the combination of speed and the defense,” Sabathia said, recalling a conversation about Lofton’s 1997 season. “He hit like .335 and he was upset because he only stole 45 bags and he was used to stealing 60 to 70 bags.”
While acknowledging his bias as Lofton’s former teammate, Sabathia insisted the Cleveland great’s complete game makes him a Hall of Famer.
Sabathia didn’t stop with Lofton, naming other Black stars he believes deserve enshrinement, including Gary Sheffield and Andruw Jones.
“Gary Sheffield is a Hall of Famer. He hit 509 home runs. He was 18 years old playing shortstop for the Milwaukee Brewers,” Sabathia said. “I look at Shef as baseball royalty. He played in the Little League World Series. There’s nothing that Shef hasn’t done in the big leagues that doesn’t warrant him to be a Hall of Famer.”
Of Jones, Sabathia highlighted his “10 Gold Gloves and being one of the best center fielders ever to play the game.”
As only the third Black pitcher to be voted into Cooperstown by baseball writers, Sabathia reflected on his responsibility to future generations. He’s had conversations with Fergie Jenkins about being among the select “Black Aces,” the club of African American pitchers to win 20 games in the major leagues.
“The one thing that keeps crossing my mind, though, is who’s next?” Sabathia said. “I almost feel even more responsible now to be pushing guys about being that next Black Ace. Whether it’s Taj Bradley or now Chase Burns, or Hunter Greene, or whoever else. I don’t want to be the last Black pitcher to win 20 games or be in the Hall of Fame.”
This concern drives Sabathia’s work with the Players Alliance, a nonprofit organization founded by current and former professional baseball players to make the game more equitable and accessible. He believes the path for a young player like him would be much harder today.
“Playing three sports would’ve hurt me in this day and age and not having the money to be able to get to Lake Point and Atlanta and all these different showcases,” Sabathia explained. “It would’ve been incredibly hard in this day and age for somebody like me the way I kind of came up to make it.”
Sabathia noted he identified declining numbers of Black players in MLB as a “crisis” back in 2007. After retiring, he discovered the issue wasn’t lack of interest — Black athletes are playing baseball “at a high clip, and they’re really, really good” — but rather the issue centers on a lack of visibility.
“We just need to find a way to get them seen and get them on teams where they can get scouted,” he said.
Generative AI was used to organize information for this story.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Source link
