LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 May Sports Sig. Auction #707  / 

19222

1974 Effa Manley Handwritten Letter to Joe Garag

Currency:USD Category:Sports - Cards & Fan Shop / Sports - Autographs (Original) Start Price:2,000.00 USD Estimated At:8,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
1974 Effa Manley Handwritten Letter to Joe Garag
<B>1974 Effa Manley Handwritten Letter to Joe Garagiola with Incredible Negro League Content!</B></I> Certainly the finest autographed piece from this only female member of the Baseball Hall of Fame ever made available to the collecting public. For the uninitiated, Manley is recognized as one of the most significant executives of the Negro League, playing a leading role in the day to day operations of the powerhouse Newark Eagles, a team owned by her husband Abe. In time she became one of the League's leading advocates, and used the popularity of her team as a platform to advocate players' rights and civil rights. She fought, ultimately unsuccessfully, to keep her club's talent from being raided by the Majors after integration took hold, losing legendary talent such as Larry Doby, Don Newcombe and Monte Irvin before disbanding the Eagles in 1948. Here she writes to NBC newscaster and former Big Leaguer Joe Garagiola, praising a recent broadcast paying tribute to the Negro League. In its entirety, the handwritten text reads, "Dear Mr. Garagiola, I am the woman, along with my late husband Abe, who owned one of the Negro Baseball teams, the Newark Eagles. I am writing to say Thanks to you for the nice things you are saying about our old baseball. When you had Cool Papa Bell and Satchell on, the list of great Negro players of the past was really wonderful. Now next week you have announced you are having Monte Irvin on your program. He was one of my boys--and the one (if the owners of the Negro teams had been asked) would have been picked to break the color barrier in the Majors. He was a perfect player--hit, field, throw, run and think. There are not many of them. The presence of the Negro players in the Majors has made the game more exciting. The base stealing has always been something the black players did constantly, which made our baseball more exciting. I will be anxiously waiting for next Monday games, and your pre game shows. Again, Thanks a lot. Sincerely, Effa Manley." The note is penned on both sides of Manley's personal stationery, and includes the original mailing envelope hand-addressed to Garagiola (return address is preprinted). While any handwritten letter from this tremendously difficult Hall of Famer would be cause for celebration, the unbeatable content of this one in particular makes it worthy of only the finest of collections. A chance such as this will not come along again. <I>LOA from PSA/DNA. LOA from James Spence Authentication.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Small Flat (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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