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!
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