The Black Aces are a group of African American pitchers who have won at least 20 Major League Baseball games in a single season. The term comes from the title of a book written by former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Mudcat Grant, one of the members of the group.
In the first years after the desegregation of MLB, teams who drafted African American pitchers often converted them into position players; few were allowed to continue pitching. Grant is the first African American 20-game winner in American League history. Two members of the Black Aces, Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins, are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The group has organized formally to promote their successes and encourage the development of future African American players.
Some black pitchers from Latin America, notably Luis Tiant, have expressed disappointment that they are not included in this group. Meanwhile, Ferguson Jenkins is actually a Black Canadian.
Read more about Black Aces: Pitchers Described By Mudcat Grant As Black Aces, Recent Honors
Famous quotes containing the word black:
“I do not think I had ever seen a nastier-looking man.... Under the black hat, when I had first seen them, the eyes had been those of an unsuccessful rapist.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)