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COPYRIGHT 2005 South Florida Sun-Sentinal
Byline: Mike Berardino
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Dozens of custom-made T-shirts and caps are boxed up in Tom Sabellico's Farmingdale, N.Y., office.
An impressive black logo is emblazoned across the front of each item: "12 Black Aces."
The reference is to the 12 African-American pitchers to post 20-win seasons in the major leagues. The plan was to distribute these shirts and caps this offseason in conjunction with a new book Sabellico is co-authoring with club member Jim "Mudcat" Grant.
All proceeds will be split among charity, the 10 living members of the club and the estates of the two aces who have died. Now along comes Dontrelle Willis, threatening to render the logo obsolete.
If the Marlins left-hander wins this afternoon in Chicago, he won't just tie Carl Pavano's franchise mark with his 18th win this season. Willis would move within two wins of becoming the 13th American-born black pitcher to join the 20-win club.
Including Saturday, Willis should get eight more starts before the regular season ends Oct. 2.
"We've been following that kind of closely, as you can imagine," Sabellico says from his Long Island office. "If Dontrelle wins 20, it...
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