There are examples where narratives take hold, and it seems to be the case with CC Sabathia. As a player, he was viewed upon as a future Hall of Famer, and he went in on the first ballot.

The average Hall of Fame starting pitcher has a 73.0 WAR, 49.9 WAR7, and a 61.5 JAWS. He averaged a 4.5 WAR per 162 games.

Sabathia fell short of all those marks. He was a 62.3 WAR, 39.4 WAR7, and a 50.8 JAWS while averaging a 3.8 WAR per 162 games. Looking at the numbers, Sabathia was a borderline Hall of Famer, not a first ballot guy.

Look at David Cone, a Hall of Fame case previously made on this site. Cone and Sabathia have an identical WAR with Cone having a better WAR7, JAWS, and WAR per 162 games.

Cone also had a superior ERA+ FIP, and K/9. Cone was a far superior postseason pitcher with a perfect game to his name. Despite all this, Cone fell off the ballot after one year.

Think about that. Cone, the superior pitcher, fell off the ballot after one year while Sabathia was a first ballot inductee. This is either narrative taking hold or standards changing.

Cone is far from the only example. Of course, we can point to Curt Schilling, but we know Schilling not being inducted is partially the result of his post playing days behavior.

We can make a case for Jim McCormick, but he played the entirety of his career in the 1800s. Without more research, making his Hall of Fame case is disingenuous.

There’s Luis Tiant, who was also a better pitcher than Sabathia.

Tiant had a superior WAR, WAR7, JAWS, and WAR/162. While he had a lower ERA+, he did have a superior FIP. Now, with a better understanding of the game, he likely would’ve garnered at least one Cy Young and more All-Star appearances.

Tiant was also a signature player with his wild delivery. He’s also one of the first big Cuban stars in a shaky history between American and Cuban baseball. He’d never reach 40% of the vote when he was on the ballot.

Mark Buehrle has a better ERA than Sabathia, and like Cone, has thrown a perfect game. Buehrle was a different style pitcher, a sinker ballet who pitched to contact. He’d back that up winning five Gold Gloves.

As a previous analysis on this site noted Buehrle was a true workhorse who threw 200 innings 14 straight years. All told, he has an interesting Hall of Fame case, but he only received 11.4% of the vote.

Johan Santana had a far superior ERA+ and FIP. He had more Cy Youngs, a pitching triple crown, three ERA titles, and a Gold Glove. Partially the result of an injury shortened career, he fell off the ballot after his first try.

All told, there were better pitchers than Sabathia who never came close to the Hall of Fame. Some didn’t last a year, and really, many were never truly analyzed or considered.

This is not to take anything away from Sabathia. He had a great career, and he deserved induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

To take it a step further, knowing how he battled and overcame alcoholism, his induction was necessary. It’s a true testament to the person and pitcher he is. We need more Sabathias in the Hall of Fame, and in reality, we need more in society.

All that said, from a pure baseball perspective, his induction on the first ballot demands we take a look at pitchers who were dismissed. We should start with Cone and go from there.