This winter’s Baseball Writers Association of America’s 2025 Hall of Fame voting results won’t be revealed until Jan. 21, but that isn’t stopping CC Sabathia from talking about his preferred hat choice if he’s voted into Cooperstown. Rather, the 2007 Cy Young Award-winning lefty said he would “absolutely” prefer that his plaque features a New York Yankees cap when he asked about the possibility during a recent charity event appearance, according to the New York Daily News.
It should be noted that players lack the final authority in these situations. (You may recall that Andre Dawson attempted to get the cap on his plaque changed last year.)
Still, Sabathia seems more likely than not to get his wish if he is voted in. He not only spent more time with the Yankees (11 seasons) than either the now-Cleveland Guardians (7.5 seasons) or the Milwaukee Brewers (half-a-season), he also amassed better or comparable statistics. Sabathia did win his Cy Young Award elsewhere, but that seems unlikely to serve as the deciding factor.
Sabathia, 44, is on the ballot for the first time. Over the course of a 19-year career, he compiled a 116 ERA+ and more than 60 Wins Above Replacement. He also made six All-Star Games and won the 2009 World Series. Our Matt Snyder, a first-time Hall of Fame voter, recently broke down why he considers Sabathia a Hall of Famer:
First off, Sabathia was a very nice blend of an elite peak with longevity during which he compiled an impressive dossier of counting stats. Secondly, with the continued alteration in the use of starting pitchers, I think we should be giving bonus points to workhorses who not only racked up huge innings counts, compared to their contemporaries, but also who excelled while doing so.
“I’m excited,” Sabathia said about the prospect of being inducted. “That’s something that I never thought about when I was playing or dreamt about, but to have people consider me to be a Hall of Famer is exciting. We’ll see what happens.”
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