Should CC Sabathia be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Throughout the 150 year history of baseball there have been more than 19,000 players. Around 1% of them eventually make it to the Hall of Fame (HOF). This column will take a look at C C Sabathia’s 19-year career and evaluate his Coopertown credentials and render a judgment as to whether the thirtyseven-year-old New York Yankee pitcher should be admitted to the HOF.

The issue arises since CC has announced that this is his last year and he recently recorded his 251st victory and his 3,002nd strikeout. CC is the 14th pitcher in major league history with that many victories and strikeouts (twelve are in the HOF, the only exception being Roger Clemens who was barred because of his acknowledged use of steroids).

The only southpaws with more strikeouts than CC are Randy Johnson (admitted to the HOF in 2015) and Steve Carlton (admitted in 1992). CC has most strikeout than any other American League lefthander (17 of his 515 starts were in the National League). Since the American League has the designated hitter pitchers, unlike hurlers in the National League CC doesn’t face weak-hitting pitchers, which would have, no doubt, added a few hundred additional strikeouts to this total if he had pitched in the National League.

CC is a six-time All-Star. He has recorded 38 complete games in his career. Roy Halladay, a member of the HOF, is the only contemporary pitcher with more complete games. Bartolo Colon, the ageless wonder, who is still pitching at 45, is the only active player with more innings pitched. CC has been a real workhorse over the years. In a time when it’s rare to see a starting pitcher still in a game after the seventh inning, CC work ethic stands out.

CC won the American League Cy Young award in 2007, as the league’s best pitcher. He was four times in the top five in Cy Young award voting. With the exception again of Roger Clemens, no pitcher with as many wins as CC and a Cy Young Award has failed to get into the Hall of Fame. Based on everything I’ve written so far CC should be a no-brainer for the HOF.

However, while his resume is very impressive. I can make a case against CC selection. While CC’s career record is an impressive 251-157 (won-lost percentage was .616), his career ERA is a pretty pedestrian 3.71. Jack Morris’s 3.90 ERA is the highest among Hall of Fame pitchers (HOF 2018). While CC’s 38 complete games, by today’s standards, is very good, it puts him in a tie for 997th place historically. It pales in comparison Warren Spahn’s 382, Robin Roberts 305 and Bob Gibson’s 255.

The strongest reason one might decide that CC is not worthy of the HOF is because of other pitchers who have not made it to the HOF so far:

Tommy John had a 288-231 won-lost record (.554 won/lost percentage) and a 3.34 ERA. John’s career victories rank as the seventh-highest total among left-handers in major league history. He also had 188 career nodecisions, an all-time MLB record among starting pitchers (dating back to 1908).

Likewise, Jim Kaat had 283237 won-lost record (.544 percentage) and 3.45 ERA. Substantially more wins and lower ERA than CC. In addition, Kaat was an All-Star for three seasons and a Gold Glove winner for sixteen seasons.

Andy Pettitte won-lost record was 256-153 (.625 percentage) and he had a 3.85 ERA. Pettite won five World Series rings in his 15 seasons with the Yankees. He was 19-11 in 44 postseason starts and holds the record for most postseason victories by a pitcher. He made three All-Star teams and finished in the top six in Cy Young Award voting five times, including a second-place showing in 1996.

And there is Curt Schilling with a 213-146 won-lost record (.597 percentage). Schilling was second in the Cy Young Award voting three times and was sixtime All-Star with three different teams, in two different leagues. Schilling had a post-season record of 11-2 (a .846 winning percentage). This is the best winning percentage ever for pitchers with ten decisions. He stuck-out 3,116 batters. Many contend that Schilling would be in the HOF if he was not a polarizing figure with right-leaning political views.

It seems to me that CC is worthy of induction into the HOF based on his durability, consistency, wins vs. losses percentage and strike-outs. I also think that Andy Pettite and Curt Schilling are worthy of induction into the HOF.

Just for the record, I believe that the Today’s Game Era Committee erred in electing Harold Baines to HOF in 2018. I believe that Baines, a six-time AllStar who recorded 2,866 hits, 384 home runs and 1,628 RBI during his 22 seasons in the big leagues was never a dominant player. He was your classic compiler. In my mind, his .289 lifetime batting average is too low for primarily a designated to make the HOF. Likewise, I believe the Veteran’s Committee was wrong in selecting Bill Mazerowski, perhaps the greatest defensive second basemen of all times, into the HOF, because of his lifetime .260 batting average.

Irwin Stoolmacher is President of the Stoolmacher Consulting Group, a fundraising and strategic planning firm that works with nonprofits agencies that serve the truly needy among us.