CC Sabathia is headed for the kind of Yankees honor that turns a uniform number into a permanent landmark.
The New York Yankees announced that Sabathia’s No. 52 will be retired and a plaque in his honor will be dedicated in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park before the team’s Sept. 26 game against the Baltimore Orioles. He will become the 24th Yankees player or manager to have his number retired and the first since Paul O’Neill in 2022.
Sabathia acknowledged the announcement with a post that tied his Hall of Fame career to the franchise’s signature tradition.
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“From the first number that hung in my locker to 52 forever hanging in Monument Park – this HOF journey has come full circle. To have my number retired by the New York Yankees this year is one of the greatest honors of my life. The LegaCCy continues.”
He added a second message shortly after: “Thank you all for the support, it means everything!!!”
The Yankees have now retired 23 numbers, with No. 8 uniquely shared as a retired number for both Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra. Sabathia’s 52 joins a list that already includes Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and other franchise icons.
Sabathia also becomes the fifth member of the Yankees’ 2009 World Series championship team to receive the honor, joining Jeter (2), Andy Pettitte (46), Jorge Posada (20) and Rivera (42). That 2009 title remains the franchise’s most recent championship.
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Sabathia’s Yankees legacy started with the kind of arrival that still reads like a turning point. He signed a seven year, $161 million contract before the 2009 season, a deal that was the largest ever given to a free agent pitcher at the time. In his first year in pinstripes, he went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA in 34 starts.
Then came the October work. The Yankees went 4-1 in Sabathia’s five postseason starts in 2009. In the American League Championship Series, he went 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA as New York beat the Angels in six games, earning ALCS MVP honors.
He spent 11 seasons in New York and finished his Yankees career 134-88 with a 3.81 ERA. He ranks fourth in franchise history with 1,700 strikeouts, sits 10th on the club’s all-time wins list, and is also seventh in starts (306) and 11th in innings pitched (1,918).
The career resume goes well beyond the Bronx. Sabathia posted a 251-161 record with a 3.74 ERA across three MLB teams, including Cleveland and Milwaukee, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025 as a first-ballot selection. He is 45 now, and Sept. 26 will add the Yankees’ highest in-stadium recognition to his post-playing honors.
The Yankees framed his value as more than innings and strikeouts. The team’s announcement highlighted his role as a clubhouse connector during the pressure-heavy 2009 season, and general manager Brian Cashman tied Sabathia’s leadership to the culture inside the room.
“When you have a player of his stature displaying that type of selflessness, it tends to manifest itself inside every corner of the clubhouse,” Cashman said. “CC was a difference-maker for this organization in a multitude of ways.”
Sabathia’s own look back at that group matched the same theme.
“I think we all felt the pressure of the new stadium and all these different signings; the clubhouse chemistry and all of that different stuff,” Sabathia has said. “We felt it, but that team was so good and we were so connected. That was one of our driving forces, to be honest.”
The Sept. 26 ceremony will place Sabathia’s 52 among the franchise’s most visible symbols, alongside plaques and retired numbers that trace the Yankees’ modern identity. It is also a reminder of what New York’s standard looks like: deliver a title, carry the innings, and leave enough of an imprint that a number stops being a number.
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