![\"CC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SABATHIA.jpg\")
CC Sabathia fires a pitch during a game against the A\u2019s in Oakland in 2009. (Chris Riley\/Times-Herald)<\/p>\nOver the years, T-shirts with CC Sabathia\u2019s No. 52 have been a common sight at youth baseball camps in Vallejo.<\/p>\n
Take a good look, because you will never see that number on another New York Yankee jersey.<\/p>\n
The New York Yankees announced on Tuesday that Sabathia\u2019s No. 52 will be retired on Sept. 26 in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. The festivities will include the dedication of a Sabathia plaque in the franchise\u2019s iconic Monument Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the first number that hung in my locker to 52 forever hanging in Monument Park \u2014 this HOF journey has come full circle,\u201d Sabathia wrote Tuesday on the social media platform X. \u201cTo have my number retired by the New York Yankees this year is one of the greatest honors of my life. The LegaCCy continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he\u2019s been retired from baseball since 2019, Sabathia, winner of a Cy Young, a World Series title with the 2009 Yankees, and 251 career games, has been plenty busy in the past year. In August, he was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
CC Sabathia fires a pitch during a game against the A\u2019s in Oakland in 2009. (Chris Riley\/Times-Herald)<\/p>\n
The greatness of Sabathia, who started 560 games in his career, including 11 Opening Day games, and pitched more innings than anyone else in the last 30 years, wasn\u2019t limited to the field. Each year, the PitCCh-In Foundation conducts free backpack giveaways to Vallejo students on the first day of school or free baseball camps held annually at Corbus Field.<\/p>\n
In November, CC and wife, Amber Sabathia, were honored with the key to the city and a series of proclamations for their achievements and contributions to Vallejo over the past two decades.<\/p>\n
And in case they ever lose their way home, Gateway Drive in North Vallejo was renamed \u201cCC Sabathia Way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I often travel outside of the city, people ask me to describe Vallejo,\u201d said Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce in November. \u201cI say it\u2019s a city of heart and resilience and spirit and strengths, but really what I should be saying is that it\u2019s the story of CC Sabathia. It\u2019s that heart and that grit and that unbelievable pride. We punch above our weight class in talent, which leaves the city and comes out of the city. And it\u2019s because of people like you, CC, and Amber. Even when you leave, you always stay rooted and are incredible ambassadors of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Vallejo City Manager Andrew Murray was also pleased with Sabathia getting his number retired.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing firsthand the passion and commitment devoted to inspiring Vallejo\u2019s youth has been truly incredible,\u201d Murray wrote to the Times-Herald. \u201cCC\u2019s journey, from North Vallejo to Yankee Stadium and now the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, has brought tremendous pride to our entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabathia will be the 24th Yankees player or manager to have his number retired. He\u2019s the first since Paul O\u2019Neill (No. 21) in 2022 and the 23rd number to be retired (Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey both wore number 8).<\/p>\n
Sabathia joins four other members of the Bombers\u2019 most recent World Series-winning clubs from 1996 to 2009 to have their numbers retired: Derek Jeter (2), Andy Pettitte (46), Jorge Posada (20), and Mariano Rivera (42).<\/p>\n
In fact, it\u2019s about as rare to wear a single-digit number with the Yankees as it is to get struck by lightning. Only the number zero is available as a single digit, with the numbers of Billy Martin (1), Jeter (2), Babe Ruth (3), Lou Gehrig (4), Joe DiMaggo (5), Joe Torre (6), Mickey Mantle (7), Dickey and Berra (8) and Roger Maris (9) being unavailable.<\/p>\n
![\"Vallejo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SABATHIA3.jpg\")
Vallejo High Athletic Director and head baseball coach Josh Ramos (middle with hat wearing No. 52) talks to CC Sabathia (far left) during Sabathia\u2019s ceremony at Corbus Field in November. Ramos had bought the jersey at Sabathia\u2019s MLB Hall of Fame induction ceremony during August and had it signed on this day. (Thomas Gase \u2013 Times-Herald)<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean that franchise is so deep in history, I never realized that all the single digits were basically gone,\u201d Vallejo High School Athletic Director and head baseball coach Josh Ramos said on Thursday. \u201cBut just the number 52 itself, I can\u2019t really think of any other famous athlete who wore number 52. It truly belongs to CC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramos joined other Vallejoans for the trip to Cooperstown in August to watch Sabathia\u2019s Hall of Fame induction. While in town, Ramos bought a Sabathia jersey at one of the nearby stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he got the key to the city and had a street named after him, I wore the jersey to that ceremony at Corbus Field,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cThe Yankees don\u2019t put their last names on the back of their jerseys, so I had CC sign his name where the last name usually goes. The jersey also had a patch on the side with the MLB Hall of Fame. It\u2019s a prized piece I have, and I\u2019m going to hang it on my wall for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the years, T-shirts with CC Sabathia\u2019s No. 52 have been a common sight at youth baseball camps…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[225722,225723,2356,70940,2558,983,668,363,10835,3,4910,5413,7234,225721,10842,99,64535,27233],"class_list":["post-492656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-american-canyon","tag-benicia","tag-california","tag-fairfield","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-local-sports","tag-mlb","tag-napa-county","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-bay","tag-northern-california","tag-pushly-alerts","tag-solano-county","tag-sports","tag-vacaville","tag-vallejo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}