Joba Chamberlain On Rise To Yankee Stardom, ‘Joba Rules’ & More | From Phenom To The Farm

Image credit: Joba Chamberlain (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Former Yankees star Joba Chamberlain might’ve never been the best pitcher in baseball—although, there’s a case to be made there for his 2007 debut season—but he’s almost certainly the only reliever in baseball history to have appeared on the TV shows Man vs. Food and Gossip Girl.

“There’s always some weird things that happen when you get involved with the Yankees,” Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain’s rise to big league stardom was just as unique as his tenure. Far from a prodigy, as a Lincoln Northeast High School senior, Chamberlain was primarily a first baseman with few prospects to play baseball at the next level.

“You would’ve looked at me and said he’s too fat, he’s too slow, his spin rate’s not good enough, he hasn’t pitched enough,” Chamberlain said. “But I hated to lose, I competed, and you can’t put a number on that.”

That passion for baseball came from his father, Harlan. The elder Chamberlain was a sports fanatic, and despite being paralyzed on the left side of his body due to polio contracted as a child, he did everything within his power to provide his son with an outlet to practice the game they both cherished.

“Still played catch—he’d sit in his chair,” Chamberlain said of his father. “I think that’s what made me good at throwing. I was a little short, fat kid, so I didn’t want to run very much when I was younger, so I had to make sure I threw it to my dad, because it wasn’t like he was getting up to get the ball.”

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Post-high school, Chamberlain enrolled at Division II Nebraska-Kearney. Participating for the first time in a strength and conditioning program, Chamberlain quickly improved, slotting into the 2004 Lopers’ starting rotation as a freshman. While his 5.23 ERA didn’t jump off the page, his rapidly accelerating velocity did, hitting 101 mph that summer.

His triple-digit fastball led to new opportunities. Chamberlain transferred to Nebraska for his sophomore season in 2005 and pitched the Cornhuskers to their first-ever College World Series win en route to being named a third-team All-American.

The kid who two years prior had been an overweight D-II afterthought suddenly found himself a projected top 10 pick in the 2006 draft. However, a poorly-timed draft day rumor about his surgically-repaired knee dropped him to the Yankees at 41st overall.

His draft day slide was the Yankees’ gain, as Chamberlain’s first professional season lit the baseball world on fire. He flew through the minors before debuting for New York on August 7, starting his career off in the bullpen with 16 consecutive scoreless innings. He finished the regular season with a 0.38 ERA in 19 appearances.

Chamberlain’s rookie year would’ve been big news in any market, but playing for the Yankees turned his rise into a media frenzy. Local reporters obsessed over the Yankees’ usage plans for Chamberlain—dubbed the “Joba Rules”—along with his electric arsenal, animated nature on the mound and, unfortunately, the swarm of midges that harassed him during an outing against Cleveland in the 2007 AL Division Series.

While the beginning of his Yankee tenure was nearly flawless, the ensuing six years in the Bronx were more of a rollercoaster. An internal debate over whether Chamberlain fit best into the Yankees’ plans as a starter or high-leverage bullpen arm carried on for multiple seasons as Chamberlain searched for consistency with his health, performance and role.

After making 43 starts across 2008 and 2009, Chamberlain transitioned to a full-time reliever in 2010. He underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2011. He’d return the following year, and throughout the remainder of his time with New York, as well as in stops with Detroit, Kansas City and Cleveland, he performed as a solid bullpen contributor, although never reaching the highs of his standout debut.

Chamberlain retired in 2017 after 10 big league seasons, at peace with the journey that began decades earlier playing catch back in Nebraska with his father.

“I got to play baseball,” said Chamberlain. “I got to do something I’ve loved my entire life.”