Gerrit Cole drops 4-word reaction to CC Sabathia's Hall of Fame triumph

Former Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia was one of the three candidates to get elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame's 2025 class this Tuesday. The 44-year-old received 86.8% of the votes in his first year of eligibility.

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole added an Instagram story to celebrate CC Sabathia's election to the Hall of Fame. Cole offered a four-word message to congratulate Sabathia with a photograph of the pair in the Yankees dugout.

"Congrats, @CC_Sabathia! Hall of Famer!" Cole wrote in his four-word message.

(Image Source: Instagram)

CC Sabathia made his MLB debut as a 20-year-old for the Cleveland Indians and was the youngest player in the league at the time. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2007 before he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers at the deadline the following year.

At the start of the 2009 campaign, the New York Yankees signed Sabathia to a seven-year, $161 million deal, the largest contract to a pitcher at that time. Sabathia helped the Yankees clinch the World Series that year and spent eleven seasons with them until his retirement in 2019.

In 2020, the Yankees acquired Cole from the free agent market to follow Sabathia as the leader of their pitching staff. Cole has since enjoyed a friendly relationship with Sabathia as the latter remains associated with his former team even after his playing career had come to an end.

Incidentally, CC Sabathia had finished as the runner-up for the AL Rookie of the Year in 2001 behind Ichiro Suzuki, who was also voted into the Hall of Fame this year. The pair were also teammates in the Yankees clubhouse for three years.

CC Sabathia joins elite company among Black Aces

Sabathia becomes the third Black Ace to get elected to the Hall of Fame (Image Source: Imagn)

The Black Aces are a select group of African-American pitchers to have won 20 or more games in an MLB season. The term was coined from the title of a book by former pitcher Mudcat Grant published in 2007. Grant is one of the 15 members of this illustrious group.

Meanwhile, CC Sabathia was one of two pitchers alongside David Price to become a Black Ace after the book was released. He is now the third member of this group to get inducted into the Hall of Fame after Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins.