C.C. Sabathia

With 251 career victories, Sabathia is tied with Bob Gibson for the second-most wins by a Black pitcher in major league history (behind Ferguson Jenkins); he was the first pitcher to debut in the 21st century and post at least 250 career wins in regular-season play.

Sabathia was born in Vallejo, California and attended Vallejo High School, where he excelled in baseball, basketball, and football.

As a teenager, Sabathia played summer baseball in the Major League Baseball youth program, Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI).

In baseball, he compiled a win–loss record of 6–0 with an 0.77 earned run average (ERA) and 82 strikeouts in innings pitched during his senior season.

He was the top high school prospect in Northern California according to Baseball America.

In football, he was an all-conference tight end.

He received scholarship offers to play college football, including one from the University of California, Los Angeles; he signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and to play baseball and football for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. (born July 21, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Yankees.

Sabathia batted and threw left-handed.

Sabathia graduated from Vallejo High School in 1998 and went directly from high school to minor league baseball.

The Cleveland Indians selected Sabathia in the first round, with the 20th overall selection, of the 1998 MLB draft.

He signed for a $1.3 million signing bonus and pitched in the Indians' minor league system for three seasons.

In 2000, Sabathia was selected for the 28-man United States Olympic Team roster.

He appeared in one pre-Olympic tournament game in Sydney, Australia, but was not on the official 24-man, Gold Medal-winning roster because he was called up by the Cleveland Indians.

He was named the Indians' 2000 Minor League Player of the Year (receiving the "Lou Boudreau Award").

Sabathia made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians in 2001 and placed second in the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting behind 2001 AL MVP Ichiro Suzuki.

In 2001, at age 20, Sabathia began his rookie season as the youngest player in the Major Leagues.

He ended the season with a 17–5 record, finishing second in the AL voting for Rookie of the Year behind future Yankees teammate Ichiro Suzuki.

Sabathia also made his first postseason appearance in 2001.

On February 23, 2002, Sabathia signed a four-year, $9.5 million contract with the Indians that contained a club option for 2006.

In the 2002 season, he was tenth in the AL in strikeouts, with 149 in 210 innings.

In 2003, he had the tenth-best ERA in the AL (3.60).

He was also named to the American League All-Star team for the first time.

Sabathia made his second All-Star selection in a row as he finished the 2004 season by going 11–10 with a 4.12 ERA and 139 strikeouts.

The Indians picked up their $7 million club option for 2006 on April 27, 2005, and Sabathia signed a two-year, $17.75 million deal.

In 2005, he was fourth in the AL in strikeouts/9 IP (7.37), seventh in strikeouts (161) and eighth in wins (15).

He threw the fastest fastball in the AL in 2005, averaging 94.7 miles per hour.

In 2006, Sabathia led the major leagues with six complete games.

Sabathia played the first seven and a half seasons of his career with the Indians, with whom he won the 2007 Cy Young Award.

He led the Indians to the 2007 AL Central Division title and their first postseason berth since his rookie year.

During his career, Sabathia was named an All-Star six times and won the Warren Spahn Award three times in a row (2007–09).

Following a trade, Sabathia played the second half of the 2008 MLB season with the Milwaukee Brewers, helping them make the playoffs for the first time in 26 years.

In the 2008 offseason, Sabathia signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million; at the time, this was the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher.

With the Yankees, Sabathia led all of Major League Baseball in wins in both 2009 and 2010 and won a World Series ring in 2009.

He was also voted the 2009 American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player.

After mid-career struggles attributed to lost fastball velocity, chronic knee injuries, and alcoholism, Sabathia again found success in the late 2010s after reinventing himself as a control pitcher.

In August 2017, Sabathia became the all-time American League leader in strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher.

In February 2019, he announced that 2019 would be his final season as a professional baseball player.

On April 30, 2019, he became the seventeenth pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 strikeouts and the third left-hander to do so (joining Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton).

When he retired following the end of the 2019 season, he led all active Major League players in career wins, career innings pitched, and career strikeouts.