There are countless women who have made their mark in the sport of baseball and have helped change the game. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, our Senior League Reporter, Anna Laible, highlights three who have grown their game in their own unique way.
Effa Manley
Effa Manley optimized being a trailblazer. She became the first female Hall of Famer when she was inducted into Cooperstown in 2006. As a civil rights leader, she owned the Newark Eagles with her husband. In 1946, their team won the Negro League World Series, proving that it didn’t matter that she was a woman in a man’s position. During her tenure as an owner, she did a little bit of everything, from handling contracts and travel schedules for the team to helping as a godparent for some of the players.
One of the moves she is most known for was helping the Negro Leagues earn compensation for Larry Doby, the American League’s first African American ballplayer. After creating a precedent for player compensation, she earned the respect of many. In addition, Effa Manley was known for being a civil rights advocate, promoting social services for Black servicemen during World War II, and using her platform with the Eagles to promote change.
After her ownership days were over, she co-authored a book with Leon Hardwick on Black baseball called “Negro Baseball…Before Integration.” She also wrote letters advocating for the inclusion of Negro Leaguers in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Manley passed away on April 16, 1981, but her mark on baseball will always be remembered.
Maybelle Blair
Maybelle Blair is a living legend for women who follow baseball as she’s been a lifelong women’s baseball advocate. Born in 1927, the 98 year old is a former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player. She pitched for one year with the Peoria Redwings before going to play professional softball for the Chicago Cardinals. After that, Blair gave up her sports career for an opportunity to work for the Northrop Corporation in California where she worked for 37 years.
After her retirement, she became the vice president of Center for Extended Learning for Seniors (CELS), an educational travel tours program provider for Elderhostel. Even though her playing days have been over for decades, her presence in baseball has not. She is constantly supporting MLB’s annual Trailblazers Series and has helped support Justine Siegal, co-founder of WPBL and founder of Baseball For All.
In 2023, Blair earned the first Amazin’ Mets Foundation Legacy Award and most recently, Kat Williams published a book on her earlier this month called “All the Way: The Life of Baseball Trailblazer Maybelle Blair.” She was also a big advocate of the series, “A League of Their Own,” on Amazon Prime. Now the honorary chair of the Women’s Pro Baseball League, her legacy will live far beyond her playing days because the impact she’s made for women in baseball will never be forgotten.
Maria Pepe
Maria Pepe changed the face of Little League. She was one of the first girls to play Little League Baseball after Little League had banned girls from competing back in 1951. In 1972, at 12 years old, she pitched in three Little League games for the Young Democrats team in Hoboken, New Jersey. After those games, her coach told her she was not allowed to play anymore because if she did, the team would lose its Little League status.
This situation drew national media attention from many organizations including the National Organization for Women (NOW). NOW ended up representing Pepe in a lawsuit against Little League Baseball and after two years, the judge ruled in favor of Pepe. This resulted in the original Little League Federal Charter removing the gender clause, a huge step for women in baseball around the same time that Title IX was passed.
Even though she was too old to play in the same league by the time the rule changed, Pepe opened the door for hundreds of thousands of young girls to play the game they love. Continuing her legacy, last year Williamsport celebrated the first ever “Maria Pepe Little League Baseball Legacy Series: A Girls with Game Experience” at the home of the Little League Baseball World Series.