How CC Sabathia Passes on Sports Lessons to His Kids

Former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia is gearing up for his induction into the Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame in July, an honor that pays tribute to his illustrious 19-season profession.

“I’m tremendous excited to stand up there, and simply see all my teammates,” he tells Dad and mom, including, “I nonetheless speak to lots of my former teammates. Whenever you win a championship with a gaggle of men, you’re just about household for all times.”

Since strolling off the sphere in 2019, the legendary participant has been having fun with the perks of retirement. 

“I play lots of golf, get the prospect to look at the Yankees with no stress, and simply hang around with my household,” says Sabathia, who partnered with Xyzal to fight spring allergy symptoms. “It’s good enjoyable.”

The dad of 4—Carsten Charles III, 21, Jaden Arie, 19, Cyia, 16, and Carter, 14—says attending to spend extra time together with his household was an enormous purpose he was able to say goodbye to skilled baseball. Naturally, his sons picked up baseball, and retirement has allowed him to cheer extra typically on the sidelines.

“I acquired an opportunity to retire when my oldest son was a sophomore, so I acquired to look at him in high school. And now my youngest is 14, so he is on the point of undergo his journey,” he says. “It was good timing to have the ability to be house and watch them of their journey with sports activities.”

On prime of that, he’s additionally a dance dad. “My oldest daughter is in school now, so her profession is over, however my youngest daughter continues to be in highschool, and so they have a very good, aggressive workforce,” he says. “I get into it. I actually find it irresistible.”

Sabathia’s curiosity in youth sports activities doesn’t finish together with his household. He is been serving to inner-city youngsters obtain their sports activities desires for over a decade by means of his PitCCh In Foundation, and is making much-needed modifications in youth sports activities.

Passing on Sports activities Classes

The 6-foot-6 left-hander, who grew up in Vallejo, California, had a protracted profession—he performed for the Cleveland Guardians from 2001 to 2008 and the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008, earlier than heading to the New York Yankees in 2009 till 2019.

Sabathia, who captured a World Collection title in 2009, is aware of all concerning the pressures that can come from playing sports. It’s an enormous problem for youth specifically. About 70% of children drop out of sports activities by age 13, based on a 2024 report American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). A prime purpose is the high-pressure surroundings that may lead to burnout and a lack of enjoyment. 

The previous MLB participant and his spouse, baseball agent Amber Sabathia, made it a degree to maintain sports activities enjoyable for his or her children. “My spouse and I made certain they knew it isn’t life or dying, that they exit and simply have a great time, and the strain comes later,” the six-time All-Star explains. 

Additionally they labored to instill in them a wholesome relationship with profitable and shedding. “You must discover ways to lose. It is a sport that is based mostly on failure. In the event you get successful three out of 10 occasions, that is nice,” he says of his children enjoying baseball. “It’s nearly managing expectations. The method of being the athlete, the method of preparing for a sport, is definitely larger than the outcome.”

Sabathia, who now works for the MLB as a particular assistant to the Commissioner, is giving the identical grace to his former workforce, which has had a number of losses thus far within the 2025 season.

“I believe that they will be fantastic,” says Sabathia, who nonetheless heads to Yankee Stadium to look at them play. “It is tremendous early within the season, however I believe if they’ll keep wholesome, they will be one of many higher groups within the league.”

Making Change in Youth Sports activities

Sabathia helps children thrive on the sphere with the PitCCh In Basis, which he launched together with his spouse in 2008. 

“We began to be a automobile for teenagers within the inside metropolis by means of sports activities and schooling,” explains Sabathia. “If I hadn’t grown up in a Boys & Ladies Membership and thru completely different applications, I would not be sitting right here. So we needed to attempt to be that for teenagers who grew up in our scenario.”

To this point, the group has renovated 5 baseball fields in Ohio, New York, and California, supporting 25 little league groups and 15 neighborhood colleges. It provides scholarships, backpack giveaways with college provides, a mentorship program, and extra.

“We’re simply making an attempt to do no matter we are able to to make the sport accessible and enjoyable for teenagers,” says Sabathia.

Accessibility is an enormous problem as the fee to play sports activities, together with baseball, is on the rise. “You want new cleats, new gloves, new bats, yearly,” says Sabathia. “Children develop and gear is tremendous costly.”

The typical U.S. household spent $1,016 on their child’s essential sport in 2024, up 46% from 2019, based on Venture Play. A recent study found 56% of parents are fearful they received’t be capable of afford their baby enjoying a sport within the subsequent yr. It may be an enormous loss as sports activities provide bodily, psychological, emotional, and social advantages for teenagers. Sports activities participation may also result in greater educational achievement.

“It’s so onerous to get a child to the place he is getting seen, making an attempt to get to school,” says Sabathia. “Attempting to assist children and alleviate the price of baseball is the most important [problem I’m trying to fix].”