Abraham Manley
Nickname: Abe
Career: 1935-1946
Positions: owner, officer
Teams: Brooklyn Eagles (1935), Newark Eagles (1936-1946)
A colorful sportsman and numbers banker, he loved baseball and bought two ailing franchises (the Brooklyn Eagles and the Newark Dodgers) and consolidated them into the Newark Eagles for the 1936 season. His team was always competitive, and in 1946 the Eagles won the Negro National League championship, snapping the Homestead Grays nine-year skein of pennants, and defeated the Kansas City Monarchs in the World Series.
He liked to associate with his players to get a personal feel for the atmosphere of the game, and frequently rode on the bus with the team and played cards with the players in the clubhouse. In addition to overseeing his own ballclub's affairs, he was active in the operations of the Negro National League, serving terms as both vice president and treasurer of the league.
He and his wife, Effa, first met at Yankee Stadium, and after their marriage, Abe allowed her to take an active role in the team's operations, as business manager. He was a positive influence in black baseball and loved the game until his death. Afterward, Effa, a woman ahead of her time, continued to operate the team through the 1948 season.
Source: James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1994.
Abe Manley