CC Sabathia is trying out a different diamond.
The ex-Yankees hurler is now playing rec-league softball in Central Park, mashing towering home runs and taking photos with opponents.
“This is something I’ve been talking about doing for years,” Sabathia told The New Yorker’s Curbed blog. “Playing softball in Central Park was like a bucket-list thing, and getting to do it with my buddies is even more fun.”
The 40-year-old retired from pro baseball after 19 season — 11 in The Bronx — but was unable to take the field with the Warriors until this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The team, which includes YES Network’s Ryan Ruocco (with whom Sabathia hosts the “R2C2” podcast), has been hoping the slimmed-down pitcher would get in on the fun for some time, often joking about it in their group text that includes Sabathia and Ruocco.
“It was a running joke that once he retires he was gonna come join the squad,” Matt Siegel, a former YES and Roc Nation employee, told Curbed, “and then this year, he was like, ‘I’m ready, let’s go.’ ”
A 250-game winner with 3,093 strikeouts over his career, Sabathia eschews the obvious and plays first base — wearing a Ken Grifery Jr. model glove — while batting cleanup.
“He’s hit a couple of bombs off that fence,” Warriors manager and founder Mike Lunetta said. “I’ve been playing there for a long time, and I haven’t seen anybody do that.”
