New York – Old-Timers’ Day this year will not be just a time for nostalgia… but a moment of silence. When CC Sabathia – the former ace who shook up MLB – returns to Yankee Stadium, he won’t talk about strikeouts or the World Series. He will say thank you. And that thank you will be for one person: Derek Jeter.
“He stood up. He clapped. The first time I played Yankee Stadium.”
CC Sabathia remembers that day vividly – his first game in a Yankees uniform, his heart pounding, the pressure weighing down as if the Bronx were waiting for a miracle. He stepped onto the field, his breath quickening. And then he saw Derek Jeter – the veteran leader – standing up, clapping, looking at him.
“I don’t know who noticed. But I saw it. It wasn’t just a clap. It was a greeting. An acceptance. A message that said, ‘You’re one of us.’”
Old-Timers’ Day will be where he “pays back his emotional debt”
At Old-Timers’ Day, CC Sabathia will step onto the field as a legend – but with a grateful heart. He revealed that he will dedicate his opening remarks to Jeter, not for the title, but for a small act that had great power.
“He stood up before I threw a pitch. Now it’s my turn to stand up for him.”
A teammate who doesn’t need many words
In baseball, people remember homeruns, strikeout records. But for Sabathia – what haunts him – is a quiet, yet powerful moment from a senior.
What would you do if someone quietly believed in you before the rest of the world did? Old-Timers’ Day will see a thank you – but more than that, it will be an affirmation that the Yankee spirit is not in the numbers, but in the heart – just as Sabathia and Jeter kept each other motivated during their prime years.