[MIJB#19]

75th season anniversary: 50 Legends, epilogue
To celebrate the 75th season of the Maassluis Merchantmen, I selected 50 players that I consider the legends of that time span from 2004 until the start of the 2078 season. I split the list of players into 5 groups, each being a time period of roughly 15 seasons. Epilogue.

If you counted the names carefully, you'll notice that the 5 articles of 50 Legends actually consisted of only 49 names, one short. The explanation is simple, I picked only 1 player from the list of active players in the 2076-2078 time period. With 2078 in the books and hopefully the beginning of a new strong era, it's the perfect timing to promote one name from the also-rans list.

Bennett Morris bailed on us after one season, that's an easy "no". Walt Blair is 10 games in, that's too short. Carlos Webb hasn't broken out into becoming a threat to the run blocking legends yet. Stiegler and Hitchcock actually earned All-IHOF first team honors in the 2078 season, but they'll have to wait for a future episode of whatever number of legends. Which leaves the honors to...

RB #23 Lucas Blackwell 2069-2077
Lucas Blackwell was the Merchantmen third round pick in the 2069 draft. Instead of bringing him slowly, he impressed enough in camp and pre-season to get 20 carries from the start. Blackwell came along with a skill set unusual to the Merchantmen, as he wasn't known for his breakaway speed, but did bring the instinct for hole recognition. On top of that, Blackwell was showing the power en determination to be a third down back. His endurance was slightly lacking, meaning the Merchantmen kept Blackwell basically active about 2/3rd of the time for most of his career and rarely seeing Blackwell active on the first play on the first possession. His career yards per carry wasn't impressive at 3.96. With 6 1,000-yard seasons, he played above the odds as a part-timer. Eventually his elusiveness and fumbling habits made the Merchantmen decide to release Blackwell in the 2078 off-season, deeming him too expensive for a backup role behind recently selected rookie Walt Blair. As a result, Blackwell's production was halted after 9 seasons with 9,531 rushing yards and 75 rushing touchdowns, with a 48.6 success rate on third downs. he's second all-time for the Merchantmen in carries, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. The later trailing Nobert Talley by a single touchdown, a record that would have been in reach for Blackwell with one more season... Blackwell tried out with the Arizona Miners in training camp 2078, but didn't make the 53-men roster and retired in the 2079 off-season.