CC Sabathia on entering the Hall of Fame and wearing a Yankees cap on his plaque
CC Sabathia will be enshrined into the Hall of Fame this July and tells USA TODAY Sports why his plaque will feature him wearing a Yankees cap.
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CC Sabathia’s starts with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008 cover just 18 games of the franchise’s history, but most of them are certainly museum-worthy.
While wearing a Brewers uniform after being acquired from Cleveland in 2008, his performance over that stretch is the perfect small sample size to show why Sabathia was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame July 27.
Sabathia went 11-2 in his 17 regular-season starts with the Brewers, with an astonishing seven complete games and a 1.65 ERA. His efforts carried the organization to its first postseason appearance since 1982.
Sabathia, who spent the majority of his career with the New York Yankees and Cleveland is one of three left-handed pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts. He pitched at least 200 innings in eight of his 19 seasons. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2007 with Cleveland and a World Series title with the Yankees in 2009.
In his afternoon induction speech, Sabathia rarely spoke of his baseball accomplishments and focused mostly on his support family. He did, however, begin with a joke involving fellow Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki.
“I am so proud and humbled to join you as a hall of famer… even Ichiro, who stole my rookie of the year award in 2001”
CC Sabathia pic.twitter.com/LkLge39k8X
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) July 27, 2025
Sabathia wasn’t the only inductee with connections to either the Brewers or Wisconsin.
Dave Parker, who played one season with the Brewers, was voted in by the Classic Baseball Era Committee and Cleveland Guardians radio announcer Tom Hamilton was the Ford C. Frick winner and was inducted into the media wing of the Hall of Fame. Hamilton is a Waterloo native who spent the early part of his career in Wisconsin.
Dave Parker’s brief stint with Brewers mentioned in Hall of Fame speech
Signing with the Brewers before the 1990 season, Parker hit .298 in his lone year in Milwaukee, with 21 home runs and 92 RBI. During his speech honoring his late father, who died just last month, David Parker II briefly mentioned the slugger’s thoughts while with the Brewers:
“I got to play every night with Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. Every night was an All-Star Game. I knew they’d be future Hall of Famers straight from the jump. I also found a dazzling rookie named Gary Sheffield showing the league that he could be one of the best in the business.”
Parker passed away due to complications from Parkinson’s disease June 28. He was a seven-time All-Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland A’s and Brewers. He won the MVP in 1978 while with Pittsburgh and he won three Silver Slugger awards at his position, including his season as the Brewers’ designated hitter. He won World Series titles with the Pirates (1979) and the A’s (1989).
Tom Hamilton shares Bob Uecker memory in Hall of Fame speech
A Waterloo High School graduate, Hamilton, who has called Cleveland games for 36 seasons, was inducted into the Hall of Fame July 26.
Hamilton’s sensational call of a fight at second base between Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox and Jose Ramirez of Cleveland two seasons ago included the classic exclamation, “Down goes Anderson! Down goes Anderson!”
Hamilton mentioned his parents’ admiration for Bob Uecker in his remarks:
“And of course, Mom and Dad, like all of us growing up in Wisconsin, were huge Brewer fans, which meant they adored Bob Uecker. Now, you would always give them a shoutout on the radio. When they played the Brewers back in the ’90s, we were in the same division as Milwaukee, so there were a lot of times they got to hear their name on the radio, thanks to Bob Uecker.
“Once I asked Bob, ‘Bob, is it OK? Can I bring Mom and Dad up here? They would just love to meet you.’ Well, Bob being Bob said, ‘Oh my gosh, by all means, bring them on and on.’ Now I get Mom and Dad up there. I introduce them — Dad first — to Bob. Dad, for the first and only time in his life, cannot speak. He cannot utter a word.
“Not Bob. Bob’s saying some nice things about me, and then he tells my mom, ‘I am so sorry that you can’t listen to Tom do the Brewer games and you’re stuck listening to me.’ Mom doesn’t hesitate. ‘Bob, you know what? You take what you can get.’ Mom? You take what you can get? I’m suddenly trying to usher them out. I am horrified. Bob is doubled over laughing. Dad still hasn’t said a word. And I go, ‘Mom, why would you say that?’ She goes, ‘You know what?’
“I believe it was another example of our mother believing in one of her children, and we all miss Bob, but I am so grateful for his friendship as well as all of the other Angel League broadcasters I’ve been able to get to know down through the years meeting and getting to know these broadcasters has been such a gift.”