When Brian Cashman recruited CC Sabathia to play in New York prior to the 2009 season, he knew it would take more than just the promise of trying to win and a giant contract.
When Brian Cashman recruited CC Sabathia to play in New York prior to the 2009 season, he knew it would take more than just the promise of trying to win and a giant contract.
“I told him and Amber [Sabathia’s wife] we would make them comfortable in New York,’’ Cashman said Sunday, just prior to Sabathia’s induction speech. “I looked him in the eye — and threw a ton of money at him — but I knew he wasn’t sure about playing in New York. I think we both fulfilled our promise. He became a Hall of Fame pitcher and he and his family were just fine in New York. We both fulfilled our promise.”
If Sabathia’s speech Sunday was any indication, Cashman’s approach was the right one, since the big lefty spent nearly his entire 12-minute speech thanking the women in his life, from his wife to his mother Margie, both of whom were in attendance, to his grandmother and many aunts.
While Sabathia noted that he’d shown his appreciation for his father Corky, who died early in Sabathia’s career, he went out of his way to tell stories about people he believed may have been overshadowed.
From throwing grapefruits in his grandmother’s backyard as a youngster, which is where Sabathia said he first “realized I could throw hard,” Sabathia consistently brought up “the village of women who raised me … and a few times literally saved me.
