Yankees 2019 Roberto Clemente Award nominee is C.C. Sabathia

For the second consecutive season, C.C. Sabathia has been nominated as the Yankees choice for the illustrious Roberto Clemente Award.

What initially began as the Commissioner’s Award in 1971 — and later changed in 1973 to honor the humanitarian work done by Roberto Clemente prior to his untimely death, the award is given out each year to one player that exemplifies what it means to be a man of character, integrity and sportsmanship, both on and off the field of play. This season, the Yankees have selected 19-year veteran C.C. Sabathia as their shining example of what an athlete in the spotlight should strive to be.

A native of Vallejo, California, Sabathia and his wife Amber work diligently through their PitCChin Foundation, which offers to better the lives of children residing in low-income areas.

The foundation, which recently raised $1.6 million at his first-ever black-tie gala, works in three phases; hosting backpack drives for underserved youth, renovating inner-city baseball fields and conducting baseball camps where some of Sabathia’s teammates and celebrity friends get the opportunity to help spread the positivity Sabathia began in 2008.

Should Sabathia win the Roberto Clemente Award, he would become just the fourth Yankee to do so — Ron Guidry (1984), Don Baylor (1985) and Derek Jeter (2009) are the others.

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Voting will run until Sept. 29 — so click the link and give thanks to Sabathia and his family for all the good they have done and will continue to do well after his playing days have ended.

However, before Sabathia is ready to hang up his custom Jordan cleats, the Big Fella let it be known that he returned for one final season because he wanted another shot at a World Series title (10 years after his first).

Sabathia also recently admitted to Dan Martin of the NY Post that if the Yanks weren’t this good, he wouldn’t have subjected his body to so much punishment this season.

The six-time All-Star is the all-time leader in strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher (3,091) — the 17th overall pitcher to reach 3,000 K’s; has averaged over 200 innings per season for his career (seven consecutive seasons from 2007-2013) and has won a total of 251 games.

Though Sabathia’s resume should leave little doubt as to whether or not he’s a worthy Hall of Famer, I’ll leave that to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Either way, the 2009 ALCS MVP will be plenty busy after his baseball career comes to an end this October — what, with his foundation, budding episodic podcast, appearances on ESPN as an analyst and potential advisory role with the Yankees.

However, it would be nice for him to be forever introduced at two-time World Series Champion, C.C. Sabathia. But hey, that’s just me.