The Most Famous Woman in Baseball: Effa Manley and the Negro Leagues
Had Effa Manley’s real life ever been submitted as a Hollywood script, it would have been rejected as too far-fetched. Effa was part temptress, part civil rights crusader, and all shrewd and calculating businesswoman. In the capable hands of esteemed blackball historian Bob Luke, her life story becomes symbolic of the Negro leagues themselves: cool, defiant, and incandescent. What a great read!"I played for Effa Manley and the Eagles for nine years. Bob Luke tells what it was like for myself and my teammates to play in the Negro leagues for that remarkable woman. Luke’s book brings back many memories."Before the color line was broken, Effa Manley was ‘Queen of the Negro leagues.’ Bob Luke has written a gem of a book. He restores Manley to our memory with all her complexity and controversy. Here is a biography about business, beauty, and baseball. Her life rides the wings of the Newark Eagles once again.The Most Famous Woman in Baseballis about a woman who was fabulous if not furious at times. Manley loved baseball, and we should all be grateful to her contributions to the American Pastime.