Effa Manley

The Baseball Hall of Fame has elected its first female member. Effa Manley was the wife of Abe Manley, and together they owned the negro league Newark Eagles. You can read below. She was a woman in a man's world, lived in black society in a discrimanatory United States, and more than that - she was apparently a white woman who loved & married a black man. It is too bad no one recognized her in life, which would have provided such an amazing woman with one last stage to speak her mind and share her wisdom with the rest of us.

Pre-Negro Leagues Candidate Profile:
Effa Manley

Born: March 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pa.
Died: April 16, 1981, in Los Angeles, Calif.

Effa Manley co-owned the Newark Eagles with her husband Abe Manley, whom she married in 1935. She ran the business end of the team, handling scheduling, travel, payroll, promotions, contracts and all the other daily details, from 1936-1947. In addition to her baseball pioneering efforts, Manley also played an active role in the Civil Rights Movement. She often used the team to help promote civil causes such as an Anti-Lynching Day at Ruppert Stadium.

Manley made one of her strongest contributions in the area of advertising. Cum Posey remarked that the league as a whole could learn something from her. She promoted the team and the community, making the Eagles a success during her tenure.

Her husband was treasurer for the Negro National League, but in reality, Effa handled those responsibilities as well, attending league meetings and speaking up when she saw injustices.

Manley worried about her players on and off the field. She worked hard to improve contracts, travel and accommodations during the season, but she also helped her players during the off-season and after their careers ended.

Manley's greatest success with the Eagles came in 1946 when they beat the Kansas City Monarchs in the World Series.

Over the years Manley had a number of great players under contract for the Eagles including Monte Irvin, Larry Doby, Max Manning and Leon Day.

Manley made another important contribution to the league after Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey integrated baseball. She lobbied Rickey and the other major league owners to get compensation for Negro leagues owners for the players they lost to the majors. The precedent for payment was set with Eagles star Larry Doby.

She co-authored a book in 1973 on black baseball and regularly wrote to the Hall of Fame, encouraging them to recognize the league and its players such as Mule Suttles, Dick Lundy, Biz Mackey and Fats Jenkins.

from http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/manley_effa.htm

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for whatever reason, the Baseball Hall of Fame announcement does not mention this, which is in the Washington Post:

"Manley was white, but married a black man and passed as a black woman, said Larry Lester, a baseball author and member of the voting committee."

From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022800241.html