Newark Eagles
|
Newark Eagles 1933–1950 (est. 1936 through merger) Newark, New Jersey | |
| League affiliation(s) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Name(s) | |
| |
| Ballpark(s) | |
| |
| Titles | |
| League titles | 1946 |
| Negro World Series titles | 1946 |
The Newark Eagles were a professional Negro league baseball team which played in the Negro National League from 1936 to 1948. They were owned by Effa Manley.[1]
History
Formation
The Newark Eagles were formed in 1936 when the Newark Dodgers, established in 1933, merged with the Brooklyn Eagles, established in 1935. Abe Manley and his wife Effa Manley, owners and founders of the Brooklyn Eagles, purchased the Newark Dodgers franchise and combined the teams' assets and player rosters.[2] Charles Tyler, the previous owner of the Dodgers, signed the team over in exchange for cancellation of an approximately $500 debt that Tyler owed Abe Manley.[3]
Team management was left to Effa, making the Eagles the first professional team owned and operated by a woman. The Eagles shared Ruppert Stadium with the minor league Newark Bears.
The Eagles were to (black) Newark what the Dodgers were to Brooklyn.
— Eagles star Max Manning
Decline and demise
After the close of the 1948 season, in the aftermath of Jackie Robinson's successful integration of Major League Baseball a year earlier, the Negro National League contracted and merged into the Negro American League. The Eagles were sold and moved to Houston, Texas for the 1949 season,[2] where they became known as the Houston Eagles, part of the NAL's eastern division. They remained in the NAL until 1950.
Negro World Series champions
Under Effa Manley's guidance, the 1946 team won the Negro World Series, upsetting the Kansas City Monarchs in a 7-game series.[2]
Hall of Fame players
The team featured future Hall of Famers Larry Doby (the first black player in the American League), Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, Monte Irvin, Biz Mackey, and Willie Wells, as well as other stars such as Don Newcombe.
References
- ↑ Overmyer, James (1998), Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles, Scarecrow Press
- 1 2 3 "Negro Leagues Baseball eMuseum: Team Profiles: Newark Eagles". www.coe.ksu.edu.
- ↑ Newman, Roberta J.; Rosen, Joel Nathan (2014). Black Baseball, Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781626742253. Retrieved 30 May 2018.