Book Club June 2021- Baseball's Leading Lady: Effa Manley and the Rise and Fall of the Negro League

By: Andrea Williams
Pages: 336
Published Year: 2021
Publisher: Roaring Book Press

Amazon Barnes & Noble

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): For fans of Hidden Figures and Steve Sheinkin's Undefeated, this is the powerful true story of Effa Manley, the first and only woman in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, Negro Leagues Baseball was the only game in town for black athletes. And those leagues owed their existence and success to savvy businesspeople like Effa Manley, the black female co-owner of the Newark Eagles. Effa was the team's business manager, leading her team to win the Negro World Series in 1946. But this victory was bittersweet: Integration was on its way, and the demise of the Negro Leagues would soon follow.

In this riveting nonfiction account, author Andrea Williams weaves the parallel stories of the segregated leagues with the tale of an inspiring woman who was at the center of it all.

This month’s pick was Meghan’s. Meghan is a huge baseball fan and her dad (also a huge baseball fan) recommended this book to her and she thought it would be a fun and different read for book club.

What I thought

This book focuses on the Negro League and Effa Manley, who was the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I do think the cover is a bit misleading because while Manley’s story is a large part of this book, I think it’s mostly about the Negro league and their struggle to make it and find equality.

While I enjoy watching baseball, I’ve always struggled to call myself a true fan. I enjoy watching it and going to games but it’s not one of my favorite sports. I could not confidently name any Hall of Famers and couldn’t tell you much about baseball’s history. Because of that, I was excited to read this book. Not only was I going to be able to learn more about the history of baseball, but specifically about black history in baseball.

The one disappointment to me was that I wanted more about Effa. They mention that she was married briefly and then married a second time. I want to know more about her history and her life and why those things happened to get her to where she was. The book gives a little background, but this definitely isn’t a biography on Effa Manley, if that’s what you are hoping for.

It was definitely a slower read for me because I’m not a huge baseball fan, but it’s under 300 pages, largely spaced and typed and well written. It’s not difficult to get into and there is a lot of history and interesting facts that kept me interested. I also was fascinated by the names of all of the Negro League teams.

Overall, is this a book I would pick up off the shelf myself? Probably not. Am I glad that I read it and educated myself on an awesome woman and some black history? Absolutely. I would definitely recommend this book to any and all baseball fans as well.

What book club thought

Everyone really enjoyed this book! It was a lot of fun getting to discuss the history as well. We all agreed Effa was a strong woman way ahead of her time but that this book title is a little bit misleading as the book focuses more on the Negro League than Effa herself. It was a really fun book and pushed me out of my comfort zone. I’ve already recommended this book to my dad!