Mudcat Grant and the Black Aces: Twelve New Paintings

Jim "Mudcat" Grant passed away at 85 in June of this year. I remember him from the mid-1980s Cracker Jack old-timer's games at RFK Stadium in Washington, and he was an incredibly accomplished pitcher, mostly in the American League where, in 1965 as a Minnesota Twin, he became the first Black pitcher to win twenty games in a season. After the end of his playing career in 1971, he wrote The Black Aces, which profiled twelve Black pitchers who had likewise reached the twenty-game milestone. 

Jim "Mudcat" Grant was the first Black pitcher
to win 20 games in an American League season,
and outspoken on matters of race more than fifty 
years before Colin Kaepernick.

The story that he profiles there and elsewhere is notable; he predated Colin Kaepernick in peacefully protesting the national anthem. In 1960 he sang "And this land is not so free, 'cause I can't even go to Mississippi" during the flag ceremony, which led to words with another player, his leaving the dugout, and a suspension for the rest of the season.

Even after Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers, Black pitchers were often converted to position players, much as Black college quarterbacks often played wide receiver or defensive back in the NFL because the powers that were couldn't stomach the thought of a nonwhite player leading the team on the field.
The new gallery contains twelve new card paintings: I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did creating them.