http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/magazine/specials/sportsman/2009/11/13
/reiter.sportsman/index.html
My Sportsman: CC Sabathia
By Ben Reiter
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec.
1. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer.
Before several games at Yankee Stadium during this year's playoffs, as
players took batting practice, shagged fly balls, and scooped up grounders,
there was an MTV Cribs-style video clip on the big screen in which CC
Sabathia took us on a tour of his California house. There was a television on
his patio, a television in his hot tub, and a television in his television.
It was, quite clearly, Sabathia's dream home.
Last December 11, the Yankees signed Sabathia to the richest contract ever
given to a pitcher -- seven years, $161 million -- allowing him, if he so
chooses, to wallpaper his house with flat-screen televisions. (By my math,
Sabathia could, after taxes, purchase 19,600 high-end Sonys.) The Yankees
gave him that contract because he was a 28-year-old star in his prime. They
gave it to him because they desperately needed a starting pitcher of quality.
They gave it to him because they're the Yankees, and they can.
But the offer reached the magnitude that it did because Sabathia had emerged
as not just an ace, but a singular ace, particularly during the three months
he spent as a Milwaukee Brewer at the end of the 2008 season. During those
three months, he went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA. He finished sixth in the NL Cy
Young Award voting even though he had pitched in half as many games as his
main competitors Tim Lincecum, Brandon Webb and Johan Santana.
Sabathia pitched seven complete games for the Brewers (just one other
pitcher, Roy Halladay, threw as many over the course of the entire season).
As his new club fought desperately, and ultimately successfully, for its
first playoff berth in 26 years, Sabathia made each of his final three starts
on three days' rest, winning two and allowing a total of two earned runs.
Impressive, asserted the more cynical among us. But it was, after all, his
contract year, and there's a reason why people view contract year
performances with a suspicious eye. Let's see whether he's as motivated, as
willing to undertake the arduous and rare task of pitching on three days'
rest once he's got enough cash to keep his family in fine electronics for
generations. Let's see if his personality changes or if he crumbles beneath
New York City's klieg lights, as have so many before him who accepted money
from the Steinbrenner family's coffers.
And then there's the matter of his postseason history: in his last four
playoff starts, with the Indians in 2007 and the Brewers last year, he was
1-3 while yielding 20 runs in 19 innings.
During the 2009 regular season, Sabathia's wallet was bulkier, his uniform
stripier. People who wanted to speak with him or take a picture with him or
have him sign some piece of memorabilia they had thrust at him were more
abundant, but he was the same as ever. He led the majors with 19 wins. He
threw 230 innings. In the clubhouse, his smile was as wide as always and he
was every bit as friendly with teammates and strangers alike.
During the playoffs, Sabathia also remained the same. He relished the chance
to pitch on three days' rest, something he did twice and would have gladly
done twice more in Game 4 of the ALDS and Game 7 of the World Series, had
those series gotten that far. "I will be ready and able to pitch," he said,
"whenever they need me to."
He remained open and humble beneath the New York media's intensified
postseason glare, even after he was outdueled by former Indians teammate
Cliff Lee in the World Series opener, when another pitcher might have pointed
out that he had allowed only a pair of runs, both on solo homers, in seven
innings.
"It's tough," Sabathia said. "Three walks. I wish I could stand here and say
it was two pitches, but I was behind [in the count] the whole game."
The one way in which Sabathia was different was that he put an end, once and
for all, to his reputation as a small-game pitcher. Each of his five starts
was a quality start. He won three, and he accumulated a stingy 1.98 ERA. It
is difficult to imagine that the Yankees, even with a bloated payroll and a
red-hot Alex Rodriguez, would have won their 27th title without him.
Sabathia is my Sportsman of the Year, first and foremost, because of what he
did on the field. While he might not win his second AL Cy Young Award -- that
honor will probably, and deservedly, go to the Royals' Zack Greinke -- no
pitcher was as valuable to his team as Sabathia was to the Yankees. He was an
ace, a stopper, a leader of men, and he was at his best when it mattered most.
But Sabathia is also my Sportsman of the Year because he showed us, in this
money-fueled era of pro sports, that cash doesn't always change athletes, or
corrupt them, and that the idea of a "contract year" can sometimes represent
nothing more than a matter of timing. I'm always wary of bestowing an honor
upon a pro athlete -- or upon anyone, for that matter -- on the basis of some
perception about his or her character. We often can't be sure of what lurks
in the hearts of people whom we don't really know, until it is too late. But
if it ever turns out that Sabathia isn't exactly what he appears to be, it
would constitute one of the greater shocks of my career.
I spoke with Sabathia amidst the crush of champagne-soaked humanity in the
Yankees' home clubhouse after they had put away the Phillies in Game 6. He
was, as usual, the biggest man in the room. He had his son, Li'l C, on his
shoulders, and his wife, Amber, at his side. On his head was a cap
embroidered with the words WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS" that he wore tilted
towards one o'clock, as he's always worn his caps.
"CC," I said. "You got a big free agent deal, came to New York, won the World
Series. Yet you seem to be the same person you've always been. Do you feel
like that's true?"
Not the most incisive question I've ever posed, perhaps, but I enjoyed his
response.
"It's hard not to be," he said. "You just gotta be yourself, and not change,
and enjoy playing the game. I was able to come in here and have fun in this
clubhouse and be myself, and I think that's the reason why I had a pretty
good year. That's what you gotta be. My mom would kill me if I wasn't the
same guy."
Sabathia's mother, Margie, has no need to wield any implement of harm. In
2009, her son was not only the same guy, but better than ever.
here are the last five winners:
2008: Michael Phelps (swimming)
2007: Brett Favre (NFL)
2006: Dwyane Wade (NBA)
2005: Tom Brady (NFL)
2004: Boston Red Sox (MLB)
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 61.231.197.16