Newark Eagles Explained

Newark Eagles

Established:

1933 (est. 1936 through merger)

Disbanded:

1950

City:

Newark, New Jersey

League:

• Independent (1933)
• Negro National League (II) (1934–1948)
• Negro American League (1949–1951)

Nickname:

• Newark Dodgers* (1933–1935)
• Brooklyn Eagles* (1935)
• merged 1935
• Newark Eagles (1936–1948)
• Houston Eagles (1949–1950)
• New Orleans Eagles (1951)

|ballpark =

• General Electric Field (Bloomfield, New Jersey) (1934 Dodgers)^[1]
• Ollemar Stadium (Irvington, New Jersey) (1935 Dodgers)^[2]
• Ebbets Field (Brooklyn) (1935 Eagles)^[3]
• Ruppert Stadium (Newark) (1936–1948)
• Buffalo Stadium (Houston) (1949–1950)

|league_champ_type= League titles|league_champs = 1946|series = Negro World Series|series_champs = 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 Abe and Effa Manley.

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Team management was left to Effa, making the Eagles the third professional baseball team owned and operated by a woman. The first such team was the St. Louis Cardinals, which was owned by Helene Hathaway Britton from 1911 to 1917, and the second such team was the Indianapolis ABCs who were owned by Olivia Taylor from 1922 to 1926.^[6] The Eagles shared Ruppert Stadium with the minor league Newark Bears.

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, where they became known as the Houston Eagles, part of the NAL's western division. Two years later they again relocated, this time to New Orleans. The New Orleans Eagles lasted one year before folding after the 1951 season.^[7]

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.

Players

See main article: Newark Eagles all-time roster.

Baseball Hall of Famers

Newark Eagles Hall of Famers
Inductee	Position	Tenure	Inducted
		1934–1938 1942, 1944	1987
		1937–1939 1941–1943, 1946	1995
		1942–1944 1945–1947	1998
		1938–1942 1945–1948	1973
		1939–1942 1945–1947	2006
		1936–1940 1942–1944)	2006
		1937–1939	1997
		1935–1948	2006

Notable alumni

• Don Newcombe (1944–1945) 4 x MLB All Star; 1949 Rookie of the year; 1956 Cy Young Award; 1956 NL Most Valuable Player

References

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1934 Newark Dodgers . Negro Leagues Data Base . Seamheads.com . 15 October 2022.
2. Web site: 1935 Newark Dodgers . Negro Leagues Data Base . Seamheads.com . 15 October 2022.
3. Web site: Ebbets Field . RetroSeasons.com . 8 August 2022.
4. Web site: Negro Leagues Baseball eMuseum: Team Profiles: Newark Eagles. www.coe.ksu.edu.
5. Book: Newman. Roberta J.. Rosen. Joel Nathan. Black Baseball, Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar. 2014. Univ. Press of Mississippi. 9781626742253. 30 May 2018. en.
6. Web site: Forgotten Heroes: Charles Isham "C.I." Taylor. February 18, 2021. Center for Negro League Baseball Research.
7. Web site: Negro American League Standings (1937-1962). Center for Negro League Baseball Research. July 7, 2019.