Effa Louis Manley, born on March 27, 1987, was a sports executive and wound up being the first woman inducted into the American Baseball Hall of Fame. Effa was the co-owner for the Newark Eagles in the Negro leagues with her husband Abe Manley until he passed away. She then took over full responsibility for the team making them the first franchise to be owned by a woman. After her husband’s death, she served the team as an executive but also fulfilled many of her husband’s responsibilities as treasurer of the Negro National League. Effa Manley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she grew up and went to high school. After graduating from Penn Central High school in 1916, Manley entered the hat making business. This was pretty short lived until she met her husband, married him and went into the baseball business with him.
One thing that is quite interesting with Effa Manley was that her racial background was not fully known. There were questions of whether she was white or black because of her stepparent’s …show more content…
Effa Manley was so important and inspirational because not only was she a woman in times of extreme sexism, she was an African American woman who had a lot to do with the success of an organization and ultimately an entire league. I know Effa Manley would not have gotten the opportunities she got if she were to try to work in the MLB because they were not letting African Americans in their league at that time. The racism in professional sports was so rampant that in no way would Effa have had those influences on her sport if it weren’t in a parallel institution. This is a testament to both Manley and the depth of racism in our country. It is awesome that she was able to do this and have the success that she had but it is also terrible that she would not have had these opportunities to showcase her ability and knowledge if it were in any other forum other than the Negro