ESPN MLB All-Star Game 2007

SAN FRANCISCO -- When the doors opened to the media at 12:33 p.m. San Francisco time, C.C. Sabathia sits in the corner of the press conference room outfitted in jeans and a striped shirt with the initials "C.C." etched onto his left-front pocket. A nametag wasn't really necessary for the Cleveland Indians' 26-year-old ace, who grew up across the Bay in Vallejo, Calif., and who was happy to be home. Though he won't be starting tonight's All-Star game in his hometown, Sabathia still celebrated his return to the Bay. He and his wife, Amber, allowed ESPN.com a peek inside their hectic Monday, which was capped off with Sabathia's co-hosted Playboy birthday party.

As one of Sabathia's childhood friends, Damany Hendrix, explains: Vallejo is a place where everyone knows almost everyone. It may be a town of 100,000, but Sabathia is its most famous resident. "Billboards, buses," Hendrix says, "He's on everything." Throughout the day Amber is, obviously, flooded with calls from friends and family, with requests ranging from tickets to rides and Playboy invites. At one point Amber, C.C.'s high school sweetheart, says the calls are getting out of hand. A friend just left a message: Can C.C. personally escort her parents on the field before the Home Run Derby? "I want to throw this phone out the window," Amber says, calmly with a laugh. When a reporter asks Sabathia how many tickets he's procured, he says, "I have no idea, my wife is handling all that. I'm turning off my phone." The final total is 29. And when Sabathia arrives at AT&T Park on Monday afternoon, he's reminded why. A man is yelling his first name from the stands, and Sabathia jogs off the field to say hello. It's Ace Stewart; they used to play T-Ball together. So is Stewart here because you got him tickets? "No," Sabathia says with a hearty laugh. "I haven't seen him in two years!"

As soon as the press conference was over, Sabathia boarded a bus to the ballpark. That left Amber with getting six suitcases over to a new hotel, where the couple rented out the luxurious Presidential suite for the night. Even though Sabathia doesn't turn 27 for over another week, he wanted to celebrate at home. Sabathia dresses in front of the mirror while Amber gets her makeup professionally done at the other end of the long bathroom. C.C. double-checks with Amber that his new baby-blue sneakers match his shirt. Then he welcomes over 25 friends and family, his publicist and financial advisor -- all good friends -- to his abode for drinks, food and birthday cake. The mix of people in the room is black and white, young and old, and at one point C.C.'s friends get into a spirited discussion of Golden State Warriors moves for next season, can Kevin Garnett have four more superstar years left in him, and wasn't he going to Boston? "We all knew that one of us would make it," says Hendrix, who played college basketball. "But when we were young we didn't think it'd be C.C., he wasn't even the best player in the league." Hendrix gets Sabathia to admit when they were 12, Sabathia hit just six home runs in their league. "But once he got to high school, you could just see how good he was," Hendrix adds.

The birthday cake comes out and everyone gathers around the table and sings. Amber is getting her hair done in the bathroom while C.C. blows out the candles. It's about 10:30 p.m., and Sabathia is getting anxious. He doesn't want to be late to his own party. But before he leaves, he takes some ribbing from his friends. "You're almost 30, you're almost 30!" they chant. Well, not quite. Hendrix says despite the millions, Sabathia's relationship with his friends hasn't changed. His publicist, Kathy Jacobson, says Sabathia takes care of all his friends. His love for them is pretty clear after spending just a few minutes in the room with them. The only thing that's different? While all of his friends still live in Vallejo, Sabathia makes his offseason home a few towns away.

It takes five taxis to shuttle the party over to the San Francisco Design Center, where Playboy and Crown Royal partner with Sabathia to host the night's event. The Sabathias arrive in a black Rolls-Royce and are ushered onto a purple carpet, where a playmate interviews them on camera. Sabathia has the event DJed, with an MC, who repeatedly yells, "Giving a shout out to my boy C.C. Sabathia, it's his birthday!!" More friends arrive and by midnight the VIP section is full with major leaguers, their agents and lots of women with little clothing. Immediately Sabathia's greeted by pitchers Josh Beckett and Justin Verlander. Earlier in the day, Beckett had seen Sabathia on the field. "You're a giant," Beckett told him. "I feel like a midget next to you." David Wright, Carl Crawford, Johan Santana, Jerry Rice and Cedric Benson are among those that show up. A few people mention that this party became the better alternative because a Barry Bonds/Jay-Z event was allowing just one guest per person.

Amber and C.C. leave the VIP area and step up on a ledge, where Playmates surround them and the entire place sings "Happy Birthday" to Sabathia. By the end of the night, Sabathia has greeted hundreds of friends and colleagues who are all genuinely happy to fete him. Sabathia, his friends repeat, is like a big teddy bear. And it feels that way when person after person greets him with an enormous hug, trying to get as much love out of him, and to him. The reason why, they say, is that he's never changed. Maybe the money's changed, but Sabathia knows his roots. He remembers listening on the radio with his grandfather when Bonds was signed to the Giants, and how excited they were that a local kid and great player was coming back home. When the opportunity arrived to embrace his friends and family, Sabathia did what he always does: grab a hold of the moment the same way he does when greeting his friends. "This was way better than I ever thought it would be," he says at the end of the night, with the party winding down around 2 a.m. "I'm so happy that everyone was able to come and be here. I can't believe how many people made it." With that, Sabathia and Amber gather their big crew, ready to leave and go back home.

Amy K. Nelson is a staff writer for ESPN.com.