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Effa Manley
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Effa Manley
Effa Louise Manley (née Brooks; March 27, 1897 – April 16, 1981) was an American sports executive. She co-owned the Newark Eagles baseball franchise in the Negro leagues with her husband Abe Manley from 1935 to 1948. Throughout that time, she served as the team's business manager and fulfilled many of her husband's duties as treasurer of the Negro National League. In 2006, she posthumously became the first (and, as of March 2024, only) woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, chosen by the Special Committee on Negro Leagues for her work as an executive.
Manley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she attended school. In 1916, she graduated from Penn Central High School, completing vocational training there in cooking, oral expression and sewing. She entered the hatmaking business.
Manley's racial background is not completely known. Her biological parents may have been white but she was raised by her black stepfather and her mother.
The racial background of Manley's mother Bertha Cole Brooks (née Ford) is contested. Most books say Bertha was German. Effa claimed her maternal grandfather was Native American, but her maternal grandfather was German. Bertha is listed as black on many censuses and documents, however, this could have been due to census takers and biases. No African ancestry has been proven conclusively.
Most assumed Manley's stepfather was her biological father and therefore classify her as black. However, according to the book The Most Famous Woman in Baseball by Bob Luke, Manley was born through an extramarital union between her seamstress mother and Bertha's white employer, Philadelphia stockbroker John Marcus Bishop. Daryl Russell Grigsby wrote, "...some insist she was a white woman exposed to black culture, who identified as black. Regardless of her ethnic origins, Effa Manley thought of herself as a black woman and was perceived by all who knew her as just that." Author Ted Schwarz wrote, "She was a white woman who passed as a black...She could stay in any hotel she desired."
In an interview she gave, she seemed to enjoy the confusion her skin color created. She related a story of when her husband, Abe Manley took her to Tiffany's in New York for an engagement ring. She picked out a huge five-carat stone. She remarked at how every salesgirl in the store was on hand to get a glimpse of this "old Negro man buying this young white girl a five-carat ring" and how she got a kick out of it. In 1977, Manley was interviewed for an oral history project archived at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries.
She married Abe Manley in 1935 after meeting him at a New York Yankees game, and he involved her extensively in the operation of his own club, the Newark Eagles in Newark, New Jersey. She displayed particular skill in the area of marketing and often scheduled promotions that advanced the Civil Rights Movement. Her most noteworthy success was the Eagles' victory in the Negro World Series in 1946. She worked to improve the condition of the players in the entire league. She advocated better scheduling, pay, and accommodations. Her players traveled in an air-conditioned Flxible Clipper bus, considered extravagant for the Negro leagues.
She took over day-to-day business operations of the team, arranged playing schedules, planned the team's travel, managed and met the payroll, bought the equipment, negotiated contracts, and handled publicity and promotions. Thanks to her rallying efforts, more than 185 VIPs—including New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who threw out the first pitch, and Charles C. Lockwood, justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York—were on hand to watch the Eagles' inaugural game in 1935.
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Effa Manley
Effa Louise Manley (née Brooks; March 27, 1897 – April 16, 1981) was an American sports executive. She co-owned the Newark Eagles baseball franchise in the Negro leagues with her husband Abe Manley from 1935 to 1948. Throughout that time, she served as the team's business manager and fulfilled many of her husband's duties as treasurer of the Negro National League. In 2006, she posthumously became the first (and, as of March 2024, only) woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, chosen by the Special Committee on Negro Leagues for her work as an executive.
Manley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she attended school. In 1916, she graduated from Penn Central High School, completing vocational training there in cooking, oral expression and sewing. She entered the hatmaking business.
Manley's racial background is not completely known. Her biological parents may have been white but she was raised by her black stepfather and her mother.
The racial background of Manley's mother Bertha Cole Brooks (née Ford) is contested. Most books say Bertha was German. Effa claimed her maternal grandfather was Native American, but her maternal grandfather was German. Bertha is listed as black on many censuses and documents, however, this could have been due to census takers and biases. No African ancestry has been proven conclusively.
Most assumed Manley's stepfather was her biological father and therefore classify her as black. However, according to the book The Most Famous Woman in Baseball by Bob Luke, Manley was born through an extramarital union between her seamstress mother and Bertha's white employer, Philadelphia stockbroker John Marcus Bishop. Daryl Russell Grigsby wrote, "...some insist she was a white woman exposed to black culture, who identified as black. Regardless of her ethnic origins, Effa Manley thought of herself as a black woman and was perceived by all who knew her as just that." Author Ted Schwarz wrote, "She was a white woman who passed as a black...She could stay in any hotel she desired."
In an interview she gave, she seemed to enjoy the confusion her skin color created. She related a story of when her husband, Abe Manley took her to Tiffany's in New York for an engagement ring. She picked out a huge five-carat stone. She remarked at how every salesgirl in the store was on hand to get a glimpse of this "old Negro man buying this young white girl a five-carat ring" and how she got a kick out of it. In 1977, Manley was interviewed for an oral history project archived at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries.
She married Abe Manley in 1935 after meeting him at a New York Yankees game, and he involved her extensively in the operation of his own club, the Newark Eagles in Newark, New Jersey. She displayed particular skill in the area of marketing and often scheduled promotions that advanced the Civil Rights Movement. Her most noteworthy success was the Eagles' victory in the Negro World Series in 1946. She worked to improve the condition of the players in the entire league. She advocated better scheduling, pay, and accommodations. Her players traveled in an air-conditioned Flxible Clipper bus, considered extravagant for the Negro leagues.
She took over day-to-day business operations of the team, arranged playing schedules, planned the team's travel, managed and met the payroll, bought the equipment, negotiated contracts, and handled publicity and promotions. Thanks to her rallying efforts, more than 185 VIPs—including New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who threw out the first pitch, and Charles C. Lockwood, justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York—were on hand to watch the Eagles' inaugural game in 1935.