I have never really noticed that before, about this card, or about CC Sabathia in general. Normally, the intensity of concentration on a baseball player's face while they are busy playing the game of baseball produces a whole range of grimaces of various sorts.
Otherwise, there is not a lot to another well executed zoom-in-on-the-torso-there baseball card. We get a perfect, and authentic, view of CC Sabathia playing baseball.
As with Jonathan Broxton, Sabathia is a big man. I like how the billowing road jersey kind of mentally, for the viewer (the unfortunate batter?), adds to the momentum of the pitch about to be released.
And as with the Broxton card just preceding this on the checklist, one focus drawing the eye is the logo on the glove, for a far more common manufacturer - Nike. This card has no less than 3 Swooshes, the most so far in this set and probably the most overall. It would be hard to imagine finding quad Swooshes on a baseball card, but probably not impossible.
The smallest, most difficult to see Swoosh brings attention to one other small detail - a rubber bracelet on CC's right wrist. A zoom in on that reveals it says the word "LITTLE"; Googling around on the concept then brings one to this image:
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 23: CC Sabathia #52 of the New York Yankees wears a bracelet that reads "Little League" during their game against the Kansas City Royals on May 23, 2012 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
This probably connects to Sabathia's long-time involvement with youth baseball in his hometown of Vallejo, CA via his charitable organization the PitCCh In Foundation, and/or his regular work with Little League baseball that has included annual visits to Little League fields and bringing whole teams to MLB games.
Uniform Hero? CC Sabathia wore #52 for his entire career.
Where’d the egg hatch? Sabathia was drafted in the 1st round in 1998 as the 20th pick by the Cleveland Indians.
How about the migrations? He would then debut with the Indians in 2001 and quickly became a key piece of their starting rotation. In 2008 at the trade deadline, he was traded to Milwaukee with 3 other prospects as a 'rental' in exchange for a young Michael Brantley. It took some time for Brantley's value to be revealed, but many years of his services in Cleveland were probably worth it. If Cleveland's ownership had been willing to re-sign Brantley, one could place even more value on that famous trade.
After leading the Brewers to the playoffs that season (check out his "CG" stat on the card back), he signed, and later re-signed, with the Yankees for the balance of his 19 year career, which included winning the MVP in 2009 among many other highlights.
After leading the Brewers to the playoffs that season (check out his "CG" stat on the card back), he signed, and later re-signed, with the Yankees for the balance of his 19 year career, which included winning the MVP in 2009 among many other highlights.
Don’t flip over real Turtles.
7 League Leader in Italics stats always kind of speak for themselves on the back of a baseball card, particularly the 4 here in the single digits.
Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?
CAREER CHASE: With 191 wins, Sabathia is 320 away from Cy Young's all-time record of 511.
Sabathia recently finished his career with 251 Wins, which I think will easily stand among the all-time leaders for the 21st century, at least. And although 300 Ws used to be the gold standard for election to the Hall of Fame, I think there is little doubt we will see CC on the podium in Cooperstown several summers from now.
Sabathia recently finished his career with 251 Wins, which I think will easily stand among the all-time leaders for the 21st century, at least. And although 300 Ws used to be the gold standard for election to the Hall of Fame, I think there is little doubt we will see CC on the podium in Cooperstown several summers from now.
Subspecies? Placing this card in Opening Day and Chrome wouldn't even be a question for Topps. Although there are no other variants of this card # or the image on it, CC will appear again in the Sea Turtle set.
Bling That Shell Here I will once again have to await collecting results. Changing the Wainwright card to a pleasing, cap-matching black parallel and insisting on using the red Target option for the Chris Sale card has upended the parallels on this page and I am still looking for a just exactly perfect one for this card. I hope to find a Factory Set Orange /230 of this card or the next one in the checklist, a daunting challenge for a player as popular as Sabathia. So I will probably eventually settle for a classic Topps Gold effort here. I hope.
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