CC Sabathia’s Hall of Fame nod gets 2-word reaction from NBA legend Carmelo Anthony
CC Sabathia was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. It was the former star pitcher's first year on the ballot, and the voters voted him in with 86.8%. Players only need to get to 75% of the vote in one of their 10 years on the ballot, and Sabathia did it in Year 1.
The ace was a New York Yankees superstar for many years, so he shared a sports town and media market with Carmelo Anthony. The NBA legend gave a shoutout to the new Hall of Famer on his Instagram story:
"Congrats family."
Anthony was in New York with the Knicks from 2011 to 2017 before he played for a few other teams. Sabathia spent the 2009-19 seasons with the Yankees, so their time in the Big Apple crossed over for seven years.
Sabathia was a dominant ace, posting a career 3.74 ERA with 251 wins. He also had 3,093 strikeouts in 3,577.1 innings pitched. Sabathia was a six-time All-Star and a one-time Cy Young winner. Sabathia also played for the Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers.
MLB analyst believes CC Sabathia's HOF induction bodes well for other pitchers
CC Sabathia getting in the Hall of Fame on his very first try wasn't all that expected. He doesn't have dominant, overwhelming stats like some of his new Hall of Fame counterparts.
The evaluation of starting pitchers has changed, and MLB insider Buster Olney believes Sabathia's induction bodes well for other starters down the line. He said, via ESPN:
"In the past, 300 wins was a benchmark that seemed to be important to Hall voters, but that is shifting; Sabathia, with 251 wins, gets in on his first try, overwhelmingly.
"Sabathia has a career WAR of 61.8, and think about some of the starters who are in the same neighborhood: Zack Greinke (72.8), Luis Tiant (65.6), Tommy John (62.1), David Cone (61.6), Andy Pettitte (60.7) and Mark Buehrle (60.0)."
He believes there will be "a whole lot of starting pitchers making speeches on the Cooperstown stage in the years ahead." With the ever-changing dynamics in baseball, Sabathia's induction might be a landmark one for starting pitchers.