On his way to the Hall of Fame, CC Sabathia jammed his foot in the door, hoping to keep it a little bit open for his teammates.
“Andy, to me, is a Hall of Famer,” Sabathia said of Andy Pettitte this week. “I've had a chance to throw with him and talk to him almost all the time. I believe he's a Hall of Famer.”
Sabathia's words may not bring Pettitte to Cooperstown, but his presence and precedent may make it possible.
If Sabathia had hit the ballot with the same numbers and the same career decades ago, he probably wouldn't have been enshrined (and definitely wouldn't have been enshrined on the first try). His 3.74 ERA is the third-highest of all time among Hall of Famers, ahead of Jack Morris (3.90) and Red Ruffing (3.80). He was active in the postseason, earning a berth to the 2009 World Series, but he also had a mediocre 4.28 ERA in 26 postseason games. Although Sabathia boasted an ERA of 97 or better in the final seven seasons of his career, he was rated as a below-average pitcher for a very long time.
