Sabathia, third left-handed Yanks in a 3000-yard club

Boone told them not to have a plan, but to follow the flow.

"I just said, we'll react, we'll let the moment tell us what to do," Boone said. "We will not take anybody's example, we will simply react at the time of our man's celebration."

The celebration lasted a few minutes along the warning track near the canoe before Sabathia disappeared inside. At some point after Sabathia returned to the dugout canoe, Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez handed him the historic ball.

"The experience of catching up with its 3000th withdrawal is something I will never forget," said Sanchez through an interpreter.

When he finally came out of the dugout, Sabathia had a bat and a helmet in his hands as he greeted and recognized the jubilant crowd.

A moment later, he discovered a breach in the safety net, where his children, Carsten Charles III, Carter Charles, Jaeden Arie and Cyia Cathleen – none of whom were alive to attend his first career outing. April 2001 – had looked across to greet him with hugs of congratulations.

Each of his children, as well as his wife Amber, his mother Margie, along with other family members and friends have traveled the country with Sabathia and the Yankees in recent weeks, while pursuing 3,000. For his elder, this meant missing baseball games in high school.

"It has been fun with them to travel the last three starts in all cities, so we enjoyed our time together and spent time together," Sabathia said. "It's a very special moment right now to have everyone in town."

Nearly an hour after the match, Sabathia, his friends and family were still celebrating this moment, absorbing on the pitch.

Even before Tuesday's game, Sabathia's coach absorbed the entire story that he was about to witness.

"It's one of those impressive numbers: 3,000 hits, 500 circuits, 3,000 battles," Boone said before the game. "That's what I grew up with in my mind, and I think I could see Rod Carew hitting 3000, Reggie." [Jackson] 500 [homers], Don Sutton 3,000 [strikeouts], 300 wins.

"These are magic numbers in our sport, and people should be aware of them when they come to them."

Boone developed this thought after the match.

"In a game dating back to the 1800s, being the 17th player to reach the 3000 is incredible," said Boone. "But it matters a lot to the guys in this room because they know who he is.

"Visibly frustrated with the loss, but [Tuesday] is about celebrating a man and what has been an amazing career. "

The Arizona manager, Torey Lovullo, does not know Sabathia nor Boone, but he still believes that Sabathia's feat deserved all the attention that he has received.

"If you are a baseball fan, you must appreciate what you have seen today," Lovullo said.

One of Sabathia's longtime opponents, the former Orioles player and current Diamondbacks right defender player, Adam Jones, has certainly been noticed. When he spoke to ESPN about the pitcher that, he said, had treated him "as a little brother" over the years, Jones recognized several aspects of the historical significance of Sabathia's success.

"He's one of the biggest names in the game over the past two decades and he's the [third] African-American pitcher with at least as many withdrawals out of catch, "said Jones, who has participated in 105 plate games against Sabathia, the biggest against a pitcher of his 14-year career.

Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins, Hall of Fame members, are the only other black pitchers to have amassed more than 3,000 career strikeouts. Like Sabathia, Gibson and Jenkins are part of the "Black Aces" group of 15 players, a collection of the only black throwers to have won 20 or more games in a season. Founding member Don Newcombe, who recorded the first of three seasons of 20 wins in 1951, died earlier this year.

"I take very seriously being a" Black Ace, "said Sabathia." So, be on this list as one of the three guys with 3,000 strikeouts, that is Is difficult to grasp, it is difficult to think about it. But it's cool to be on this list. "

Jones: "It's pretty historical." It's just another sign that [Sabathia] builds his resume for Cooperstown. I play against him for 12 years and I can say that the competition against him is still A-1. You always know when you face him that the intensity is going to be high.

"He deserves everything that comes his way."

Sabathia is the first pitcher to break the 3,000-point barrier since John Smoltz made it to the Atlanta Braves on April 22, 2008. Smoltz eliminated Felipe Lopez from the Washington Nationals in the third round of the season. match.

In February, two months after an unexpected angioplasty during the off season, Sabathia, a former first-round pick, announced that he was going to retire after 19 seasons.