{"title":"Bob Luke","description":"Bob Luke is the author of Dean of Umpires: A Biography of Bill McGowan, 1896-1954. He lives in Garrett Park, Maryland.","products":[{"product_id":"the-most-famous-woman-in-baseball-effa-manley-and-the-negro-leagues-hardcover","title":"The Most Famous Woman in Baseball: Effa Manley and the Negro Leagues - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eNever one to mince words, Effa Manley once wrote a letter to sportswriter Art Carter, saying that she hoped they could meet soon because \"I would like to tell you a lot of things you should know about baseball.\" From 1936 to 1948, Manley ran the Negro league Newark Eagles that her husband, Abe, owned for roughly a decade. Because of her business acumen, commitment to her players, and larger-than-life personality, she would leave an indelible mark not only on baseball but also on American history. Attending her first owners' meeting in 1937, Manley delivered an unflattering assessment of the league, prompting Pittsburgh Crawfords owner Gus Greenlee to tell Abe, \"Keep your wife at home.\" Abe, however, was not convinced, nor was Manley deterred. Like Greenlee, some players thought her too aggressive and inflexible. Others adored her. Regardless of their opinions, she dedicated herself to empowering them on and off the field. She meted out discipline, advice, and support in the form of raises, loans, job recommendations, and Christmas packages, and she even knocked heads with Branch Rickey, Bill Veeck, and Jackie Robinson. Not only a story of Manley's influence on the baseball world, \u003ci\u003eThe Most Famous Woman in Baseball\u003c\/i\u003e vividly documents her social activism. Her life played out against the backdrop of the Jim Crow years, when discrimination forced most of Newark's blacks to live in the Third Ward, where prostitution flourished, housing was among the nation's worst, and only menial jobs were available. Manley and the Eagles gave African Americans a haven, Ruppert Stadium. She also proposed reforms at the Negro leagues' team owners' meetings, marched on picket lines, sponsored charity balls and benefit games, and collected money for the NAACP. With vision, beauty, intelligence, discipline, and an acerbic wit, Manley was a force of nature--and, as Bob Luke shows, one to be reckoned with.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51433911976159,"sku":"9781597975469","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/obsw_Ipplc9781597975469.webp?v=1790020832"},{"product_id":"willie-wells-el-diablo-of-the-negro-leagues-paperback","title":"Willie Wells: El Diablo of the Negro Leagues - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2008 - Robert Peterson Recognition Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWillie Wells was arguably the best shortstop of his generation. As Monte Irvin, a teammate and fellow Hall of Fame player, writes in his foreword, \"Wells really could do it all. He was one of the slickest fielding shortstops ever to come along. He had speed on the bases. He hit with power and consistency. He was among the most durable players I've ever known.\" Yet few people have heard of the feisty ballplayer nicknamed \"El Diablo.\" Willie Wells was black, and he played long before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. Bob Luke has sifted through the spotty statistics, interviewed Negro League players and historians, and combed the yellowed letters and newspaper accounts of Wells's life to draw the most complete portrait yet of an important baseball player.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWells's baseball career lasted thirty years and included seasons in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada. He played against white all-stars as well as Negro League greats Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Buck O'Neill, among others. He was beaned so many times that he became the first modern player to wear a batting helmet.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs an older player and coach, he mentored some of the first black major leaguers, including Jackie Robinson and Don Newcombe. Willie Wells truly deserved his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but Bob Luke details how the lingering effects of segregation hindered black players, including those better known than Wells, long after the policy officially ended. Fortunately, Willie Wells had the talent and tenacity to take on anything-from segregation to inside fastballs-life threw at him. No wonder he needed a helmet.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67925212397791,"sku":"9780292717510","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/3A-vDFNBB59780292717510.webp?v=1791219053"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/bob-luke.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}