Brooklyn to Newark, Part One: Negro National League Eagles Take Flight

From the desk of: 100th ANNIVERSARY of NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL

1935

BROOKLYN EAGLES

Before Defining Themselves at Newark, the Negro National League Eagles Learn to Fly in Brooklyn

Effa Manley, born in 1897 and raised in Philadelphia, moves after graduating high school to New York City, where she lives in Harlem.  Some years later, during the 1932 World Series, she meets Abe Manley at Yankee Stadium.  By June of 1933, the two rabid baseball fans are married, and in 1934 Abe is awarded a franchise by the Negro National League owners.  Abe and Effa Manley together establish the Brooklyn Eagles with home games to be played at Ebbets Field.  However, it is Effa, as history will prove, who serves as team matriarch, primary operating owner, negro league titan, and baseball avant-garde.  To date, she remains the only woman inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.

EFFA MANLEY

The 1935 Brooklyn Eagles finish fifth, one game above par with a 32-31 record.  Out in Pittsburgh, the Crawfords cruise to the pennant finishing ten games ahead of the Columbus Elite Giants, New York Cubans, and Philadelphia Stars.  Finishing behind Brooklyn are the Chicago American Giants and Homestead Grays, while the Newark Dodgers finish in last place, 25-games out of first.

Brooklyn is managed briefly by Ben Taylor (5-5); otherwise, the bulk of games are guided by 26-year old player/manager George Giles (27-26).  In 1909 at age twenty, Ben Taylor embarked on a 21-year independent/negro league career.  A first baseman by trade and a slugger by nature, he retires with a lifetime .332 batting average, 328 extra-base hits, and 727 RBI through 1,021 career games.  From 1922 through 1929, he serves as player/manager with the Indianapolis ABC's, Washington Potomacs, Baltimore Black Sox, and Atlantic City Bacharach Giants.  Six years after retiring, he comes to Brooklyn as manager but oversees only ten games.  His last gig as manager comes in 1938 when at 49-years of age, he guides the Washington Black Senators sadly to a 2-20 record.  In 2006 Ben Taylor was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.  At this point in his career, George Giles is an eight-year negro leagues veteran most associated with the Kansas City Monarchs and St. Louis Stars.  After one season as player/manager with Brooklyn, he shifts over to the New York Black Yankees for two years, then retires after splitting the 1938 season between the Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Crawfords.  George Giles owns a lifetime .315 batting average through 1,847 career at-bats.

TOP POSITION PLAYERS
c Clarence Palm; 1b George Giles; 2b Henry Williams; 3b Javier Perez; 

ss Bill Yancy; lf Fats Jenkins; cf Clarence Griffin; rf Ed Stone 

George Giles, in 1935 is also Brooklyn's leading hitter with a .341 batting average and tallies a team-high twelve stolen bases.  Right behind him is second baseman Harry Williams batting .340 with eleven stolen bases along with a team-leading three home runs and 45 runs batted in.  Right fielder Ed Stone bats .324 and is second on the team with 37 runs batted in.  Fats Jenkins bats .320 with 24 runs batted in.

TOP PITCHERS

Will Jackman ~ Leon Day ~ Elbert Williams

Ted Radcliffe ~ Otis Starks

On the mound, an 18-year old rookie right-hander named Leon Day makes 18 appearances and 13 starts for Brooklyn, posting a 7-4 record with eight complete games and 4.43 earned run average.  He strikes out 65 batters in 107.2 innings pitched.  On July 31, 1942, Day sets a negro league record by striking out 18 Baltimore Elite Giants in a one-hitter.  Sixty years after his rookie season in 1995, Leon becomes the twelfth negro league representative inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee.

1935 EAST ALL-STARS

Leon Day ~ George Giles ~ Fats Jenkins ~ Ed Stone

After the 1935 season, Abe and Effa Manley purchase the Newark Dodgers, merge them together with the Eagles and relocate the team to New Jersey, giving rise to the fabled Newark Eagles Baseball Club with whom Monte Irvin; Don Newcombe; Larry Doby; Ray Dandridge; Biz Mackey; Mule Suttles; Jimmy Hills; Willie Wells; Max Manning; and other notables would play.  The Eagles play their home games at New York Yankees owned Ruppert Stadium through the 1948 season.  After which the Manleys sell the Eagles.  The team is relocated to Houston and incorporated into the Negro American League.

PART TWO: Where Eagles Dare


Sources:
Newark Dodgers Baseball-Reference ~ Brooklyn Eagles Baseball-Reference ~ Effa Manley MLB.com 
Effa Manley NLBPA.com ~ Negro Leagues in Brooklyn, BrooklynBallParks.com ~ SABR Leon Day
Negro League DataBase Seamheads.com 
photo on display at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium, circa 1997