He and his wife, Amber, were married at the courthouse in Westlake. His three children, Charles Carsten III, Jaden Arie and Cyia Cathleen, were born in Cleveland. This winter, Sabathia had a sleeve of tattoos put on his right arm in the city.

Of course, he became one of the best pitchers in Baseball there as well.

Sabathia became so good that he now pitches for the New York Yankees because the Indians couldn't afford to keep him, trading him to Milwaukee last year rather than lose him to free agency. The Yankees, who signed him to a seven-year, $161 million contract in December, had no such money concerns.

The Indians traded Sabathia on July 7. Later that month, he purchased a full-page ad in The Plain Dealer thanking the Indians , the fans and his friends and neighbors for "10 great years."

"I'd been with Cleveland since I was 17," said Sabathia, 28, "and I had a lot of people to thank. Everything happened so quick when I was traded. I got off that plane coming back home from Minnesota and I was gone. The next morning I was on a plane to Milwaukee.

"I just wanted to say thank you to everybody. I thought that was the best way to do it."

After Milwaukee was eliminated in the postseason, Sabathia and his family stayed in Cleveland awaiting the birth of their second daughter and the start of free agency.

"I think I'll always be connected to Cleveland and the Indians ," he said. "They gave me a start. They drafted me when I was 17. . . . I became a man there."

Thursday he faced the Indians for the first time as the Yankees opened their new $1.5 billion ballpark.

"It was weird," Sabathia said. "When Victor [Martinez] came to the plate, I couldn't even look at him. Vic's almost like my brother. We've been playing together since 1999 when we were in the minors. When he tipped his batting helmet to me, that kind of gave me goose bumps."

Sabathia struck out Martinez to end the first inning, but he was gone after 5 2/3 innings and 122 pitches. The score was tied, 1-1, but the Indians cruised to a 10-2 victory.

"I knew they'd run the pitch count up on me," he said, chuckling.

It was no secret the Yankees were going to do everything possible to sign Sabathia over the winter. But there was speculation that Sabathia, who grew up in Vallejo, Calif., rooting for the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants, was going back to the West Coast.

"Well, everyone had decided I was going to play in California except for me," Sabathia said. "I just wanted to win. I knew this organization is committed to doing everything it can to win a championship."

While Sabathia's salary made headlines in December, the Yankees didn't stop spending. They signed pitcher A.J. Burnett for five years and $82.5 million and first baseman Mark Teixeira for eight years and $180 million. Now there were three big-money free agents to share the spotlight and the pressure.

"That has definitely helped," Sabathia said. "Being able to bounce things off A.J. has been great. It's been a lot of fun so far this year just hanging out."

It has worked to the Yankees' advantage as well. Once they signed Sabathia, the other upper-echelon free agents took notice.

"When CC and Burnett signed on, that made the Yankees that much better of a team," said Teixeira, the last of the three to sign. "I wanted to pick a team that had a chance to win every single year. With A.J. and CC heading up the rotation, that's a good start for the Yankees."

Sabathia is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA in three starts for the Yankees.

"It's been good," he said. "The fans have been awesome. Everybody was telling me all sorts of things. Obviously, when you pitch bad you expect it to not be so good. That's true anywhere. I got booed in Cleveland.

"Everything is more magnified here."

That's what finally persuaded Sabathia, along with that $161 million, to come to the Bronx.

"It really came down to do I want to play at home or do I want to win?" Sabathia said. "What's really important? Obviously, winning is more important than anything."

Box

TRIBE TALK

"I hit that wall hard. My knee was still

hurting a month-and-a-half after the

postseason." Coco Crisp, Kansas City Royals outfielder, on making the final out for Boston to eliminate the Indians in Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS, running into the outfield wall at Fenway Park.