Women of
the Halls of Fame
Baseball Pioneer/Executive
Birthday: March 27, 1900
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Year Inducted: 2006
Effa Manley was born to her white mother, Bertha Ford Brooks who became pregnant by her white employer, John M. Bishop. Manley's step-father, however, was black. She was raised in a household with a black step-father and black half-siblings, and because of this chose to live her life as a black person.
Growing up, Manley's favorite player was Babe Ruth, and she would go to Yankee Stadium just to watch Babe bat. This is how her love of baseball began.
Manley met her future husband, Abe Manley at a New York Yankees game. They married in 1935 and developed the Newark Eagles, a baseball franchise in the Negro Leagues.
Manley served as the team's business manager and fulfilled her husband's duties as treasurer of the Negro National League. Many men in the sport of baseball resented Manley, but they certainly respected her. She took care of her players as if they were family, and so fought for better schedules, better travel, and better salaries as a player advocate. One of her greatest accomplishments came when her team, in 1946 beat the Kansas City Monarchs in a thrilling seven-game Negro League World Series.
Outside of baseball, she was a social activist and a crusader for black civil rights. Manley was the treasurer of the Newark Chapter of the NAACP and often used Eagles games to promote civic causes.
Manley died in April of 1981 at the age of 81. She was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California where her gravestone reads, "She loved baseball." Manley will long be known as the first woman elected as a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and "a pioneer of our nation's pastime."