There will never be another No. 52 in pinstripes.
On Friday, the Yankees will make official what has felt inevitable for years, retiring CC Sabathia’s number and unveiling a plaque in his honor in Monument Park before New York’s 4:05 p.m. game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium.
It is one of the highest honors the franchise can bestow, and for Sabathia, it comes barely a year after baseball gave him its highest honor.
The big left-hander was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025, making it to Cooperstown on his first ballot. Now No. 52 will hang permanently at Yankee Stadium, ensuring that the number Sabathia wore for all 11 of his seasons in the Bronx belongs to him forever.
Sabathia will become the 24th Yankees player or manager to have his number retired. Because No. 8 is shared by Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra, 52 will become the 23rd different number removed from circulation by the franchise. He is the first Yankee to receive the honor since Paul O’Neill’s No. 21 was retired in 2022.
A Hall of Fame Career That Found a Home in the Bronx
Sabathia’s road to Monument Park began before he ever put on pinstripes.
He debuted with Cleveland as a 20-year-old in 2001, developed into one of baseball’s premier starting pitchers and won the 2007 American League Cy Young Award. After a remarkable second half with Milwaukee in 2008, when he helped carry the Brewers into the postseason, Sabathia became the centerpiece of the Yankees’ aggressive offseason plans.
New York signed him to a seven-year, $161 million contract in December 2008, at the time the largest free-agent contract ever given to a pitcher.
He immediately delivered.
Sabathia went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA across 34 starts in 2009, anchoring the rotation as the Yankees returned to the World Series. He was even better when October arrived, earning ALCS MVP honors after going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA against the Angels. Weeks later, the Yankees were World Series champions for the 27th time.
It would be the beginning of an 11-season relationship between Sabathia and New York.
From 2009 through his retirement in 2019, Sabathia went 134-88 with a 3.81 ERA and 1,700 strikeouts as a Yankee. His name remains scattered throughout the franchise’s pitching record book, ranking fourth in Yankees history in strikeouts, seventh in starts, 10th in wins and 11th in innings pitched.
Sabathia was also a fixture when the games mattered most. In 21 postseason appearances for New York, including 18 starts, he went 8-4 with a 3.42 ERA. At Yankee Stadium, his postseason ERA was just 2.17.
Those numbers tell a large part of the story. They do not tell all of it.
Sabathia became one of the defining personalities of his Yankees era, a clubhouse leader whose importance stretched well beyond what happened every fifth day. By the time he threw the final pitch of his career in 2019, he had long since become synonymous with the pinstripes.
First-Ballot Hall of Famer
Baseball made Sabathia’s place among the game’s greats official in January 2025.
In his first year of eligibility, Sabathia received 86.8 percent of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote, easily clearing the 75 percent needed for election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was officially inducted in Cooperstown on July 27, 2025.
His complete career resume left little question about his Cooperstown credentials.
Across 19 Major League seasons with Cleveland, Milwaukee and New York, Sabathia finished 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA. He pitched 3,577 1/3 innings, made six All-Star teams, won a Cy Young Award and struck out 3,093 batters.
He also joined one of baseball’s most exclusive pitching clubs.
Sabathia is one of just 15 pitchers in Major League history to record at least 250 victories and 3,000 strikeouts. When he reached those milestones, only fellow Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton had done both as left-handers.
And when it came time to decide which team would be represented on his Hall of Fame plaque, Sabathia chose the interlocking NY.
Cooperstown may celebrate his entire career, but Sabathia has made clear where he considers home.
Sabathia’s place in baseball history is already secure, but the family name is still very much part of the game. I had the chance to catch up with him during MLB All-Star Week this summer, just days after the Brewers selected his son, Carsten Sabathia III, in the 2026 MLB Draft. Given CC’s own memorable run in Milwaukee, the connection felt especially fitting, and I asked him if watching his son turn pro had him tempted to pull a LeBron-and-Bronny and come out of retirement for one last chance to share the field.
Another Left-Hander Among Yankees Pitching Royalty
Now Sabathia’s legacy will have a permanent home in center field alongside some of the greatest pitchers to ever wear pinstripes.
When Mariano Rivera received his Monument Park plaque in 2016, he became the ninth Yankees pitcher honored there, joining Lefty Gomez, Whitey Ford, Red Ruffing, Allie Reynolds, Ron Guidry, Goose Gossage, Andy Pettitte and Mel Stottlemyre. Sabathia will add another name to that pitching fraternity.
Several members of that group have an additional distinction that Sabathia will now share.
Ford’s No. 16, Rivera’s No. 42, Pettitte’s No. 46 and Guidry’s No. 49 have all been retired by the Yankees. On Friday, Sabathia’s No. 52 joins them.
There is something especially fitting about Sabathia taking his place alongside Pettitte and Rivera.
They were there with him in 2009, when Sabathia arrived in New York carrying enormous expectations and immediately helped deliver a championship. Derek Jeter’s No. 2, Jorge Posada’s No. 20, Rivera’s No. 42 and Pettitte’s No. 46 have all since been retired. Sabathia now becomes the fifth member of that 2009 championship team to receive the same honor.
Seventeen years after that group brought a World Series trophy back to the Bronx, another piece of the 2009 Yankees will become a permanent part of the ballpark.
52 Forever
Sabathia arrived in New York as an ace with a massive contract and expectations to match.
He leaves his mark on the franchise as something much bigger.
World Series champion. ALCS MVP. Clubhouse leader. More than 1,700 strikeouts in pinstripes. First-ballot Hall of Famer.
And now, forever, No. 52.
Future generations of Yankees fans walking through Monument Park will see Sabathia’s plaque among the franchise’s legends. They’ll look beyond the center-field wall and see his number alongside Ford, Rivera, Pettitte, Guidry and the countless icons who came before him.
Players will come and go. Rotations will change. New aces will take the mound in the Bronx.
But no Yankee will wear 52 again.
That one belongs to CC.
