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.
Shown here is the 1974 player’s contract for fellow Black Ace Bob Gibson. His five 20-win campaigns are surpassed among Black Aces only by Fergie Jenkins’ seven. The year the contract was signed Gibson struck out his 3,000th batter to join Walter Johnson as the second man to reach the benchmark.
