BALTIMORE -- Once the younger version of CC Sabathia proved he could consistently ring up victories at the game's highest level, he recalls being taken aside by former big league hurler Jim "Mudcat" Grant, who described a select club the left-hander seemed to have the chops to join.
It was a group called the "Black Aces," Grant said, which consisted of African-American pitchers to win 20 or more games in a single season. At the time, membership included a dozen men. After a pair of 19-win close calls, Sabathia finally joined the group in 2010 -- his second season with the Yankees.