CC Sabathia’s latest New York impact is not happening in a box score. It’s happening on a renovated Harlem field, where the former Yankees ace and his wife, Amber, spent the weekend working with kids at their PitCCh In Foundation youth baseball camp.
The camp was held at Brigadier General Charles Young Playground and gave boys and girls in grades 1 through 8 instruction in hitting, throwing, catching and fielding. Sabathia and Amber were both hands-on throughout the event, not just names on the flyer.
That field carries Sabathia’s fingerprints in a more lasting way, too. His foundation put $500,000 into the project before the full financing had come together, giving the redevelopment an early boost when the rest of the money was still being assembled. City officials said that support arrived before organizers had the major funding needed to finish the job.
The payoff is now visible. What used to be a deteriorating dirt field has become a roughly 13,900-square-meter synthetic-turf complex after an $11 million redevelopment. The site can host baseball, softball, football, soccer and lacrosse, and the upgrades include drainage and water detention improvements, fencing, backstops, dugouts, benches, drinking fountains and a sports mister.
The financing for the completed project eventually included law-enforcement asset forfeiture funds, Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association Youth Development Fund, the NFL Foundation Grassroots Program, the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, Manhattan officials and other partners. New York City said approximately $7.5 million came from law-enforcement asset forfeiture funds.
Sabathia’s foundation has been tied to youth sports and community work since he and Amber started PitCCh In in 2008. The group has focused on youth sports, education, mentorship, scholarships and field renovation, including baseball facilities in the Bronx and in Sabathia’s hometown of Vallejo, California.
When the Harlem field opened, Sabathia summed up the mission this way: “Giving back has always been at the heart of everything I do,” Sabathia said.
The Aug. 23 camp turned that commitment into something immediate. Young players got reps on the same field the Sabathias helped finance, with support from ProCamps, Next In Line Group and G3 Marketing. Instructors connected with The Players Alliance also took part.
The broader goal was never just cosmetic. City officials said the field and its programming are expected to serve more than 800 young people, and free youth programming is planned through the city’s Saturday Night Lights initiative. That puts Sabathia’s contribution inside a longer-term plan, not just a one-day event.
Harlem has its own baseball roots, with the Polo Grounds once standing nearby before the New York Giants moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season. Basketball later became the neighborhood’s most visible sports identity, but the rebuilt Charles Young field gives baseball another permanent home for the next generation.
The timing also fits another major Sabathia moment in New York. On Sept. 26, the Yankees will retire his No. 52 and unveil a Monument Park plaque before a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Sabathia will become the 24th Yankees player or manager to have his number retired.
His Yankees résumé is already locked in. He pitched 11 seasons for New York from 2009 through 2019, going 134-88 with a 3.81 ERA and 1,700 strikeouts in 307 games. He helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series in his first season with the club and was named ALCS MVP that October.
Across 19 MLB seasons with Cleveland, Milwaukee and New York, Sabathia went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts. He entered the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025.
For Sabathia, the Harlem project adds a different kind of permanence to his New York story. The money came early, the field got built, and now the space is being used exactly as intended - for kids learning the game and for baseball to keep a foothold in Harlem.
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