NEW YORK -- With Women’s History Month nearing its end, we shouldn't forget the career of Effa Manley, the only woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Along with her husband, Abe, Effa was part owner of the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues from 1935-48. Effa did more than own the team; she was in charge of the team’s business operations. It was her show.

It was an era when women were not known to be executives, but Manley was like no other. She was one of the first Negro League executives to receive compensation after one of her players, Monte Irvin, signed with a Major League club -- the New York Giants.

Manley assembled her best team in 1946, when the Eagles defeated the Kansas City Monarchs in seven games in the Negro World Series. That Eagles team featured Irvin, Larry Doby, Biz Mackey and Leon Day -- all Hall of Famers.

“She was a woman operating a traditional male-dominated role,” said Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. “She was able to be tremendously impactful and effective and understanding the nuances of baseball, understanding the business of baseball. She made a huge impact on our game.

“Even within the ranks of those in the Negro Leagues, she dealt with some of the sexism that came along when you do break those kinds of grounds. So she is a significant player in the game of baseball. … Monte Irvin had such high regard for her because the way she treated her players. As Monte said, ‘She never missed payday.’ I can tell you now, that was not always par for the course in the Negro Leagues. So she ran a successful business; she was well respected in the Newark area.”

According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Manley also helped Civil Rights causes. In the mid-1930s, Manley once walked the picket line in order to get local businesses in the New Jersey area to hire black employees. Thanks in part to Manley’s efforts, African Americans soon were working in the area.

“I look at the social causes that she was out in front of,” Kendrick said. “She got black folks hired in places they were not hired. As much as she was building a Newark Eagles team, the things that she did in the community had a tremendous impact. It entrenched her popularity in the Newark area just as much as the success as the Newark Eagles.”