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This 1964 Topps card features the images and autographs of Al Downing and Jim Bouton. Both were coming off of outstanding 1963 campaigns.

Downing posted a career-best .722 winning percentage, a 2.56 ERA and a league-leading 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Bouton was a 20-game winner and All Star.

Best known for giving up Hank Aaron’s 715th homer to pass Babe Ruth, Downing won 76 games for the Yankees over parts of 9 seasons.

Bouton followed up his 20-win season in 1963 with 18 victories in ’64. He never again posted a double-digit win total.

Best known for surrendering Hank Aaron’s 715th homer, Downing was an All Star in 1967. He received MVP and Cy Young support in 1971 with the Dodgers when he was Comeback Player of the Year.

 

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The Major League Baseball Players Association sent out questionnaires like this one to its players to determine what endorsements each man had. Today’s players compliment their baseball salary with off-field endorsement. That wasn’t always the case.

This document filled out by Al Downing on July 16, 1970 shows him to have just one endorsement, with Brunswick sporting goods. The left-hander has signed his legal name, “Alphonso E. Downing”.

The 1970 season was a rough one for Gentleman Al. After starting the season by going 3-3 with Oakland, Downing was dealt to Milwaukee where he won just two of his 12 decisions.

In the off-season the Brewers flipped Downing to the Dodgers for utility man Andy Kosco. Downing responded with a great year in Los Angeles. He won a career-high 20 games en route to being named Comeback Player of the Year.

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When Jim “Mudcat” Grant won a league-leading 21 games in 1965, he became the American League’s first African-American 20-game winner. Later he published his autobiography under the title, The Black Aces: Baseball’s Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners.

The term, “Black Aces” came to represent 20-game winners of African-American descent. The first member of the club was Don Newcombe of the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers. A Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP, Newk’ had 20 or more wins on three occasions including a league-leading 27 in 1956.

Four years later Sam Jones of the San Francisco Giants posted an NL-best 21 victories to join Newcombe. First AL Black Ace Mudcat Grant earned his 20th win of 1965 on September 25; eight days later the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson became the club’s fourth member. Gibson reached the 20-win plateau again in 1966, ’68, ’69, and ’70.

In 1967 Fergie Jenkins and Earl Wilson gained membership by winning 20 and 22 games respectively. Jenkins proved to be the most prolific of the 20-game winners, reaching the mark in seven seasons.

Vida Blue had the first of his three 20-win seasons in 1971 when he was voted the American League Most Valuable Player. That same year Al Downing captured the NL’s Comeback Player of the Year Award by winning 20 contests.

Flamethrower JR Richard secured his spot with the Black Aces in 1976 with exactly 20 victories while Mike Norris joined him as a 22-game winner in 1980 with the A’s.

Dwight Gooden had perhaps the finest season of any of the aces in 1985. It was a Triple Crown campaign for Doc who led the NL in wins (24), ERA (1.53) and strikeouts (268). That same decade, Dave Stewart dominated AL hitters by winning 20+ in four consecutive seasons started in 1987.

Former Rookie of the Year Dontrelle Willis became the first Black Ace of the 21st century with 22 victories in 2005. Five years later CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees led the league with 21 triumphs to join his mates. The most recent addition to the exclusive club is David Price who won exactly 20 in his Cy Young campaign of 2012.

In the collection is Don Newcombe’s rookie baseball card produced by Bowman in 1950. The pitcher has neatly signed his name across the front of the card. Newcombe and Downing are the two Dodger Black Aces.