Saturday, February 29, 2020

The "Black Aces"

With another Leap Day extending February into this wonderful Saturday, I thought we'd celebrate the little extra bit of Black History Month with a Showdown tour through the fifteen members of the "Black Aces"! Honestly, I had no idea of this exclusive group until I saw an ad for a special on the Black Aces that I believe aired on MLB Network (sadly, I don't have that channel). However, it got me reading up on the elite pitchers that've earned the title "Black Ace" since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.

Per my research, and unsurprising giving America's racist history, even when black players were allowed into the major leagues, they were disproportionately shifted to be position players. Apparently, racist attitudes extended to believing black pitchers were unable to handle the position. However, this mentality was quickly proven to be folly when black pitchers were given a chance. Mudcat Grant, the first black pitcher to win 20 games in a season in the AL, coined the phrase "black aces." At this moment, there are 15 Black Aces (with David Price earning membership with his 2012 Cy Young season).

To become a Black Ace, an African American pitcher has to win 20 games in one season. Unfortunately, this eliminates latin pitchers such as Luis Tiant and Pedro Martinez, but it's a group that will hopefully gain more membership despite the African American player pool continuing to shrink and starting pitchers gaining less and less and less wins every year. But there's hope, as we see players like Marcus Stroman put together 33 start seasons with ERAs hovering at or below 3.00.... it's only a matter of time before another star earns the (super cool) title of BLACK ACE!


There are very, very few African American starting pitchers in the big leagues today and Marcus Stroman's sensational 2017 season (where he only accumulated 13 wins) shows how hard it is for a pitcher to join the ranks of the Black Aces!

And now -- a MLB Showdown walkthrough of every starting pitcher to earn the title of Black Ace!

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Grand Finale of the 2019 Set -- Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers, & New York Mets

Fireworks in the sky, spring training is here and lets finish off the 2019 set shall we, this isn't going to be a well thought out write up, its all about getting the final teams out for everyone to enjoy. Shout out to Bradley for these last four teams looking so beautiful!!! (even if the Tigers charts don't reflect it) So without further adieu lets get things started with the Detroit Tigers.


DETROIT TIGERS

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Showdown Cup Season 2 Pr-Season Preview


The chalk is down, the grass is cut and it is opening day here at the Greatest Showdown Blog for Season 2 of the Showdown Cup. Games will be starting for my 20 team season that many of you participated in drafting. So how about we show everyone how wrong I truly am by my preseason predictions on who I think will be there when the playoffs start. Whoever I pick, I am truly sorry for jinxing you and your team, and whoever I picked for last place, congratulations on making the playoffs. If you're patient enough to look through the whole article you might see some cards that Bradley hasn't gotten around to posting yet as well.
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