Perquimans Chamber of Commerce By Colleen Brown

Perquimans County has two ties to the Baseball Hall
of Fame. We all know about Jim “Catfish” Hunter, man
with the three-million-dollar arm, pitcher for the Oakland
A’s and then the New York Yankees. Did you also know
that Effa Manley, who was the very first woman ever to
be elected to the Hall, was married to a man from Perquimans
County?
Effa and Abe Manley were co-owners of the New
Jersey baseball team, the Newark Eagles. Abe Manley
was born in Hertford in 1885 and met Effa, appropriately
enough, at a baseball game in New York in 1935.
Together, they started the Brooklyn Eagles, then bought
the Newark Dodgers, combining the teams to form the
Newark Eagles. Under the Effa Manley’s management,
the Eagles climbed to success and celebrity. The team
won the Negro National League and black World Series
in 1946. One of their players, Thurman Brickhouse, was
also born & raised in Hertford, returning there to live at
the end of his baseball career.
Both Manleys were lovers of baseball and the athletes
who played the game. The Manley-owned Eagles were
among the best treated & compensated players in the
Negro National League. The Eagles were of the first
Negro League teams to own an air-conditioned bus for
travelling to games. The Manleys also encouraged their
players to play in a Puerto Rican winter league, off season,
going so far as to sponsor a team in that league.
Abe Manley was active in the Negro National League,
holding office as the vice president and treasurer of the
League.
The Manleys and the Eagles were also famous for
supporting civil rights. In 1939 Newark’s Ruppert
Stadium held an anti-lynching day under the Manley’s
influence. Effa also organized “Don’t Buy Where You
Can’t Work” boycotts and worked for the Citizens
League of Fair Play. The Newark Eagles were instrumental
in raising money to start the Booker T. Washington
Community Hospital.
Perquimans County Chamber of Commerce has
recently had a donation that brings our two Baseball
Hall of Fame connections together. Derrick Jones,
well known historian and Negro League researcher, who
will be presenting selections of his memorabilia collection
and speaking on the history of the Negro League in
Hertford in February, preceded his visit by donating Effa
Manley documents to the Jim “Catfish” Hunter Museum
during a very cordial visit. We are looking forward to
learning more about this thrilling part of our history during
his next visit.


Phone: 252-426-5657
chamber@visitperquimans.com
www.visitperquimans.com
www.facebook.com/perquimanschamber
Twitter @PQChamber