Women's History Month: Honoring Effa Manley
Last year, The Dees Diversion honored Billie Jean King, Bette Davis, Sally Ride, and Patsy Mink during Women's History Month. This year, I will also be honoring a different woman every week.
My first memorable woman is Effa Manley, who recently became the first woman to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Effa Manley was unusual in that she was a white woman who passed as black, rather than the other way around. She may, in fact, be the only tangentially famous white person to ever pass. Like her mother, Hanley was married to a black man (Manley's father, however, was white), Abe Manley, and she was the co-founder, owner, and manager of the Newark Eagles, a Negro League team.
Manley took care of her team. The Eagles were the first Negro League team to have air-conditioned, Flexible Clipper bus, and Manley and her husband sponsored a team in the Puerto Rican winter leagues so that Eagles players would have employment in the off-season. She also served as treasurer of the Newark chapter of the NAACP. Under Manley's management, the Eagles won the Negro World Series in 1946.
My first memorable woman is Effa Manley, who recently became the first woman to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Effa Manley was unusual in that she was a white woman who passed as black, rather than the other way around. She may, in fact, be the only tangentially famous white person to ever pass. Like her mother, Hanley was married to a black man (Manley's father, however, was white), Abe Manley, and she was the co-founder, owner, and manager of the Newark Eagles, a Negro League team.
Manley took care of her team. The Eagles were the first Negro League team to have air-conditioned, Flexible Clipper bus, and Manley and her husband sponsored a team in the Puerto Rican winter leagues so that Eagles players would have employment in the off-season. She also served as treasurer of the Newark chapter of the NAACP. Under Manley's management, the Eagles won the Negro World Series in 1946.
posted by Diane at 9:45 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
As much as I applaud her selection, I am so pissed off at the selection committee for the Hall of Fame that I can barely control my anger. They chose to snub Buck O'Neil, whose contributions to Major League Baseball, while less than stellar on the field, have few peers when considered in their totality. Not only did he get Ernie Banks and many other Hall of Fame black players their first exposure to the Major Leagues, he often housed them and guided their careers as a non-compensated 'agent' or mentor. In recent years, his accomplishments include founding the Negro League Hall of Fame and speaking on baseball's behalf to organizations throughout the country.
This is a crying shame, Diane, that supposedly-intelligent people cannot see the error of their vote and re-convene to right the wrong while there is still time. To his credit, the 94-year-old Mr. O'Neil, when told of his rejection and the public's accompanying outrage, merely smiled and negated the importance. He is truly baseball's greatest ambassador.
I know this has little to do with Women's History Month, but I had to tell someone.
By
Anonymous, at
11:39 AM
You are not alone, Bob. A lot of people are outraged that O'Neil was snubbed. Who knows what they were thinking? I agree that it's mystifying.
By
Diane, at
11:54 AM
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