CC Sabathia arrived in the Bronx with a championship-sized assignment, and on Friday the Yankees gave his No. 52 a permanent place beside the club’s greats. The former left-hander’s number was retired at Yankee Stadium, where a Monument Park plaque will preserve the record of an 11-season run that included the 2009 World Series title.
| Yankees career | Record | ERA | Strikeouts | Games | Starts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-19 | 134-88 | 3.81 | 1,700 | 307 | 306 |
Sabathia became the 24th Yankees player or manager to have a uniform number retired. He is the first honoree since Paul O’Neill’s No. 21 ceremony on Aug. 21, 2022.
The ceremony was moved ahead after Saturday’s game against the Orioles was postponed because of an approaching Nor’easter. The plaque unveiled at second base still carries Sept. 26, 2026, as its dedication date. Sabathia was offered the chance to wait until next season, but with family, friends and former teammates already in town, he wanted the moment completed.
“I was kind of done with ceremonies,” Sabathia said, noting that the past two years had been filled with major occasions. “Let’s get it done.”
A Yankee Stadium number for an ace
Sabathia, his wife Amber and his mother Margie rode around the warning track in a golf cart as the pregame presentation unfolded. Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Dellin Betances and Chris Young were on the field, while video greetings from former manager Joe Girardi and catcher Jorge Posada played in center field.
Jeter called Sabathia among his favorite teammates and pointed to the simple reliability that defined his Yankees tenure: the big left-hander took the ball every fifth day. Jeter said Sabathia was a genuine ace and a central reason New York won it all in 2009.
Posada praised the way Sabathia represented the organization, saying he played with class and became an important member of the Yankees family.
For Sabathia, the Yankees honor carried a particular emotional weight, even after his first-ballot Hall of Fame election led to induction in the summer of 2025. His Cooperstown plaque features the interlocking NY, and he said the acceptance from Yankees fans made this recognition feel even larger than the Hall call.
He said that when he signed in New York, he understood the stakes and never assumed he would win over a demanding fan base. Looking back at 11 years in pinstripes, he called the feeling remarkable.
The decision that changed his career
Sabathia signed a seven-year, $161 million contract in December 2008, then the richest free-agent deal ever given to a pitcher. He thanked general manager Brian Cashman for helping steer him toward what Sabathia described as the best choice of his life.
There was some initial reluctance about pitching in New York. But Sabathia came to embrace more than the assignment of leading the rotation. He also became a key clubhouse presence, helping connect the established Core Four of Jeter, Pettitte, Posada and Mariano Rivera with arrivals such as A.J. Burnett, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher.
That mix came together quickly in the new Yankee Stadium, lifting the 2009 World Series trophy in the ballpark’s first season. Sabathia had first seen the stadium before construction was fully finished and immediately fell for the place.
He had already experienced newer homes in Cleveland and Milwaukee, but the opportunity to help open Yankee Stadium after pitching in the old, smaller version of the Bronx ballpark thrilled him. He said he felt fortunate simply to be part of the moment.
One final outing in the Bronx
Sabathia’s playing career ended on the Yankee Stadium mound during the 2019 postseason, when he dislocated his left shoulder. In his view, it was a fitting finish for a pitcher who took pride in emptying the tank whenever he had the baseball.
He had told Amber that he might still be able to work from the bullpen, but he joked that baseball had other plans. Otherwise, Sabathia said, he would probably still be looking for innings.
Now No. 52 will remain in the Bronx long after those innings ended. Sabathia said it is difficult to process that future visits to Yankee Stadium will include looking up and seeing his own number among the retired Yankees.
