Parallels between Obama and Sabathia

Fittingly on inauguration week - Stephen Rose over at Huffington Post, wrote a great piece drawing on the parallels between the President and CC Sabathia.

"It got me thinking about expectations. Sabathia must be the most expected person in baseball. And surely Barack is the most expected person period...Sometimes, when challenges rise, a certain grace emerges, some extra positivity to help achieve a good result...We are all in the same boat. The challenges we face are no less important than theirs when seen... from a distance. And our overcoming is no less momentous".

I really think this is a valid comparison and it'll be interesting to see how both lefties perform on their respective hills!

Yankees state of mind

Sabathia's definitely seems to be getting his mental pinstripes on, just a month before suiting up for Spring Training.

Here's a picture from CC's Christmas party which had a blatant Yankee theme.

Also, I like this quote that he gave the other day about how he is prepared to deal with the craziness and pressure of the Bronx fishbowl:

"If you ask anybody in my family or anybody that knows me, I don't think there's any outside pressure that could be put on me that I don't put on myself...I put an enormous amount of pressure on myself to go out there and perform and expect to win every game, expect to pitch well in every game."

CC wins 2nd Spahn!!

The big guy picked up his 2nd consecutive Spahn award on Sunday. The award, named after the winningest southpaw with the high-kick wind-up and arguably one of the most cerebral players to play the game, is based solely on numbers and is awarded annually to the best lefty in the game. CC has now won 2 of 10 possible Spahn awards since the accolade was introduced in 1998. The amazing thing that comes to mind is the strong correlation between winning the Spahn award and winning the Cy Young award: Big Unit got both pieces of hardware in the same season 4 times, Santana did it twice and Sabathia also did it once (2 seasons ago). It's not hard to argue that CC should have won the NL Cy last year too, considering his pivot role in pedaling the Brew Crew to the playoffs.

“I started out playing right-handed,” Sabathia said. “I was throwing right-handed, I was hitting right-handed and I was like the worst kid out there.”

The story goes that Sabathia used to play first base and was reaching down for a ground ball that wound up hitting him in the chest. A few days later, his father brought home a new glove so he could play left-handed. The rest was history.

“C.C. Sabathia is not only an outstanding major league athlete, he also has dedicated himself to serving those less fortunate, which is also the mission of Rotary,” Spahn Gala chairperson Bill Hickman said.

And he's right on the money. New York will love him off the mound as well. As a dog lover, I absolutely dig how he joined Peavy, Zito and Swisher last week in contributing money to La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation. Way to go CC! More athletes need to join La Russa's endeavor to help our canine friends and to serve as a positive role model!

Sabathia helps Epstein

Article below from Lohud Yankees Blog:


It will take only a well-placed fastball for the angry words to start. But in January, the rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox can be set aside for a good cause. CC Sabathia understands that.

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and his twin brother Paul run The Foundation To Be Named Later, a charity that helps out disadvantaged kids in Boston. Their biggest fundraiser is the annual Hot Stove, Cool Music concert, which was held last night.

Before the show, Epstein hosted a roundtable discussion for fans at Fenway Park. Guests included Dustin Pedroia, Justin Masterson, Terry Francona, Peter Gammons and Rays outfielder Fernando Perez.

Sabathia participated via telephone from California. This was the same event Brian Cashman attended last year.

Pretty cool of Sabathia to do that.

Virtual look at CC

Compliments of MLB The Show 09, here is an early digital look at #52 on the hill at the new stadium

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