This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch¡¯s Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Were it not for Andy Pettitte¡¯s influence, the phone may not have rung in CC Sabathia¡¯s living room on Tuesday evening, congratulating him as a first-ballot inductee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

With Pettitte¡¯s help, Sabathia revamped his arsenal late in a stellar 19-year career, adding a cutter to transition from attacking with power to dismantling lineups through a more cerebral approach. As Sabathia prepares to be enshrined in the Hall, he believes his teammate and friend belongs there, too.

¡°For me, Andy is a Hall of Famer,¡± Sabathia said. ¡°Getting a chance to pitch alongside him, getting a chance to still talk to him pretty much all the time, I believe he¡¯s a Hall of Famer.¡±

It would be no surprise if Pettitte attends the festivities in Cooperstown, N.Y. this July, when Sabathia will be inducted alongside Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner. If voting continues to trend in his favor, Pettitte might enjoy a similar day in the next few years.

Pettitte was one of several candidates to see a significant jump in his vote percentage this year, rising to 27.9% (13.5% in 2024).

Former Yankee Carlos Beltr¨¢n had the next highest jump, gaining 13.2 percentage points (57.1% to 70.3%), followed by Chase Utley¡¯s 11 percentage-point gain (28.8% to 39.8%). Wagner was next with an 8.7 percentage point gain, which pushed him past the 75% threshold required for entry.

Sabathia was ready to retire after 2017, but with a nudge from MLB Network¡¯s Harold Reynolds, Sabathia recognized the importance his counting numbers would have in bolstering a Hall case, particularly surpassing 250 wins and 3,000 strikeouts.

¡°CC was the perfect example of what a big league top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher should look like,¡± Pettitte said. ¡°He had the unique ability to overpower hitters with his velocity, but he could also throw his off-speed stuff with great success. He attacked the strike zone with his whole arsenal and was always trying to challenge hitters.

¡°The biggest separator for CC was his mentality. He was tenacious. He had that bulldog approach to the point where he had a lack of care for his own well-being at times, and he wanted to take the ball every chance he could. He was a true warrior on the mound, and that type of make-up is very rare.¡±

Sabathia¡¯s numbers may prompt voters to take a closer look at Pettitte, who posted a 256-153 record, 3.85 ERA, 117 ERA+ and 60.2 bWAR over 531 games (521 starts) with the Yankees (1995-2003, ¡¯07-10, ¡¯12-13) and the Astros (2004-06). Sabathia¡¯s numbers are similar: 251-161 record, 3.74 ERA, 116 ERA+, 62.3 bWAR.

As Jayson Stark pointed out in an excellent column for The Athletic, Pettitte¡¯s 3.85 ERA would be the highest of any left-hander in the Hall -- yet his ERA+ balances that by considering the offensive era in which Pettitte pitched, spending most of his career in the powerhouse American League East.

Like Sabathia, Pettitte was a lefty workhorse, firing 3,316 regular-season innings. They had different pitching styles, and while Pettitte¡¯s strikeout tally (2,448) is shy of Sabathia¡¯s, the Yankees¡¯ success throughout the dynasty years bears Pettitte¡¯s fingerprints.

Like teammate Derek Jeter, whose 200 postseason hits represent the equivalent of another full season in his career, Pettitte essentially pitched an extra year-plus with games counting the most. When Game 2 rolled around, Joe Torre trusted Pettitte with the ball, and with good reason. Pettitte posted a 19-11 record with a 3.81 ERA in 44 postseason starts, all but four for the Yankees. Those 19 wins are a record.

Five of those victories came in the World Series, including stellar efforts in the crucial Game 5 of the 1996 Series at Atlanta, the ¡¯98 Game 4 clincher at San Diego, the deciding 2000 Game 5 against the Mets, a Game 2 gem against the Marlins in ¡¯03 and two victories against the Phillies in ¡¯09. (Again from Stark: Pettitte¡¯s teams won eight postseason clinchers he started; no one else has more than five).

¡°[With] my getting in, hopefully people will reconsider his candidacy and put him in,¡± Sabathia said. ¡°I mean, anybody that wins 19 games in the playoffs, I think deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.¡±

It has been a slow climb for Pettitte, who debuted on the ballot with 9.9% in 2019 and dipped backward a couple of times, losing support in 2022 (13.7% to 10.7%) and 2024 (17.0% to 13.5%). Pettitte¡¯s admission of using human growth hormone to recover from injuries in 2002 and ¡®04 certainly impacted voters¡¯ willingness to check his name.

With three years remaining on the BBWAA ballot, Pettitte needs more significant gains, but such a rise is not unprecedented. In recent years, candidates such as Larry Walker (21.9% in his seventh year) and Edgar Martinez (27.0% in his sixth year) have vaulted to Cooperstown over their final cycles.

For now, Pettitte will count Sabathia¡¯s election as a win.

¡°I¡¯m so proud of CC,¡± Pettitte said. ¡°I love everything about him, and that includes so many things that have nothing to do with pitching or the huge success he had between the white lines.¡±