Baseball:First woman elected to the Hall of Fame
Effa Manley, a savvy businesswoman whose gravestone reads, "She Loved Baseball," became the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Famewhen 17 people from the Negro Leagues and the predecessor era in black baseball were selected by a special committee.
Manley, who co-owned the Newark Eagles with her husband, Abe, handled the daily business operations of the team and was considered an expert in marketing and advertising. She was also diligent in fighting for better conditions for the players on the Eagles, who won the Negro Leagues World Series in 1946.
"While Abe had the money, she was really the one running the show," said Leslie Heaphy, a Negro Leagues historian and member of the voting committee.
The 17 inductees, none of whom are living, were picked Monday. When theyare added to the Hall with Bruce Sutter, the closing pitcher who was elected by the baseball writers, on July 30, it will be the largest election class in history.
The previous high was 11 in 1946.
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Heaphy said that Manley was also active in the civil rights movement and used the Eagles to help promote those causes, including holding an Anti- Lynching Day at a game. Manley's mother was white and her father was black, but Larry Lester, a member of the voting committee, said she had been conceived in an affair her mother had with a white man.
Manley, who had mixed-race siblings and lived in a black neighborhood, lived her life as a black woman. She was instrumental in making sure that owners of Negro League teams were compensated for their players by major league teams who signed them once Jackie Robinson integrated baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Branch Rickey, the Dodgers' general manager, did not pay the Kansas City Monarchs any money for Robinson when he signed him off their roster.
"She was very much ahead of the other owners who were afraid to speak up," said Heaphy. "She really pushed to make sure they received those payments."
The only living figures on the ballot - Buck O'Neil, 94, a former player and manager with the Monarchs and still active in speaking about the Negro Leagues' history, and Minnie Minoso, who became a star outfielder in the American League - were not elected.
In addition to Manley, seven Negro Leagues players and five players from black baseball before the Negro Leagues were formally created, three Negro Leagues executives and one pre-Negro Leagues executive were elected. A 12- person committee analyzed the careers of 39 candidates over two days. A candidate needed 75 percent, or nine votes, to be elected.
The election was a byproduct of Major League Baseball's giving the Hall of Fame a $250,000 grant for an in-depth analysis of black figures in baseball from 1860 to 1960. Before this election, 18 players from the Negro Leagues were in the Hall.
The Negro Leagues players elected Monday were Ray Brown, a pitcher who won 105 games and had a 3.20 earned run average; Willard Brown, who had a .351 career batting average; Andy Cooper, who had a 116-57 pitching record; Biz Mackey, who caught for 24 seasons, played until he was 50 and batted over .400 four times; Mule Suttles, who hit .327 in his 23-year career, Cristobal Torriente, a .339 hitter, and Jud Wilson, who hit .351 in 24 seasons.
The pre-Negro Leagues players selected were Frank Grant, a second baseman who is generally considered the best African-American player of the 19th century; Pete Hill, a pitcher and outfielder who twice hit over .400; Jose Mendez, a terrific pitcher who John McGraw, the famed New York Giants' manager, said was a cross between Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander; Ben Taylor, an elite first baseman who hit .308, and Louis Santop, the first African-American power hitter.
The executives from the Negro Leagues who will join Manley at Cooperstown are Alex Pompez and Sol White. Pompez was an owner and league executive for 35 years who later became a major league scout for the Giants; Cum Posey, the owner of the mighty Homestead Grays, who featured Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Cool Papa Bell; and J.L. Wilkinson, a white man who owned the Kansas City Monarchs for 29 seasons.
White was elected as a pre-Negro Leagues executive. He was a player, manager and owner and wrote the first definitive history of black baseball.
The Hall did not release voting totals.
Heaphy said Manley's challenging childhood had shaped her into an aggressive executive. Manley wrote letters to the Hall lobbying for various Negro Leagues players to be considered for induction before dying at 84 in 1981. Now she is joining the Hall.
"She learned early on not to be overlooked," said Heaphy.
