Effa Manley-MLB

Sports' Forgotten Heroes

There have been very few women to own a Major League Baseball franchise. The most notable, Marge Schott, owned the CIncinnati Reds from 1984 to 1999. Before her came Helene Hathaway Robison Britton who inherited the the St. Louis Cardinals. After Britton came Joan Payson, the first owner of the New York Mets and the first woman to own an MLB franchise without inheriting it. But, there was another. Effa Manley owned the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League from 1936 thru 1948. A woman in a man's world, the Eagles were one of the cornerstones of the Negro Leagues along with teams such as the Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords and Kansas City Monarchs. And, while Manley ran a tight ship and was one of the more vocal owners in the Negro Leagues, it was what she did away from the game that truly separated her from her fellow owners. An activist always fighting for minority rights, she made a difference not just on the baseball diamond, but away from it too. And, much to the surprise of many, her background just might lead one to ponder why she did what she did. So, who was Effa Manley and what was her background? On this episode of SFH, author James Overmyer joins me for a fascinating conversation about the first woman to be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame. She received that honor in 2006, long after she passed. Overmyer who recently released a book on Manley's life, "Queen of the Negro Leagues," published by Rowman & Littlefield, uncovered so much about Manley's life and shares much of it with me from her unique upbringing to how she fought for the rights of African-Americans to how she became owner of one of the Negro League's legendary teams to her fight to integrate Major League Baseball. Check out this episode of SFH now for the story of one of baseball's extraordinary personalities and pioneers.