Manley negotiated $5,000 from the New York Giants for star player Monte Irvin's contract, asserting Negro League franchises' rights amid MLB integration.
On July 24, 1948, Effa Manley, acting as business manager of the Newark Eagles, signed an agreement with the New York Giants organization that secured $5,000 in compensation for the contract rights to star outfielder Monte Irvin, who would go on to a Hall of Fame career in Major League Baseball.
This transaction was historically significant because it established an important precedent: as Major League Baseball began integrating following Jackie Robinson's 1947 debut, many MLB teams simply signed away Negro League talent without compensating the Black-owned franchises that had developed and contracted these players. Manley was among the first, and most vocal, Negro League executives to insist that MLB clubs pay fair compensation for the contracts of players they poached, arguing that Negro League teams held legitimate contractual rights.
Her insistence on fair compensation was both a business necessity, since losing star players without payment threatened to bankrupt Negro League franchises, and a matter of principle regarding the value and legitimacy of Black baseball institutions. This stand made her a somewhat controversial figure among white baseball executives who resisted the idea of paying for players they considered simply available, but it also earned her respect as a shrewd and principled business leader who refused to let integration come at the total financial ruin of the Negro Leagues.