One woman and 277 men. Effa Manley would love those odds.

Manley was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday, making history as the first woman selected to the sport's pre-eminent shrine. For someone who never ran from a challenge and never let others define her, Manley is a fitting recipient of the unique honor.

"It is a selection long overdue," said Jean Ardell, a Corona del Mar-based author and historian. "Women have played an important part in the history of baseball, and none more so than Effa Manley. She was decades ahead of her time in terms of her social conscience and concerns about the rights of players."

Manley, born in 1897 in Philadelphia, made her mark in baseball in the 1930s and 1940s as the co-owner and general manager of the Newark Eagles of Negro National League. While she entered baseball by virtue of the fact her husband, Abe Manley, had purchased the team, she quickly took control of the franchise, successfully operating it until 1949. By then, the major leagues had signed the best players in the Negro leagues, and the Manleys folded the Newark franchise rather than continue with a substandard product.

Along the way, she became a fearless crusader for civil rights. For a middle-class woman of her era, Manley transcended that background to totally embrace the African-American culture. It was a transformation so complete that virtually everyone who knew her in later life assumed she was black.

"She may, or may not, have been white," said Amy Essington, a history professor at Cal State Long Beach who is doing her doctoral thesis on the integration of baseball. "The interesting thing was, it really didn't matter. By choice she entered the African-American race and by choice she entered a business that was totally male dominated. There is no question she was totally devoted to social change. And this selection to the Hall of Fame honors that dedication."

Manley was anything but a figurehead with the Newark Eagles. In fact, she took over the day-to-day business operations of the team while her husband Abe attended to his other enterprises in New Jersey and New York.

"She was definitely in charge there in Newark, she ran the show," said Don Newcombe. Newcombe, 79, played for the Eagles in 1944-45 prior to signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946. "She gave me my start in baseball, gave me a job. She really groomed her players, tried to knock the rough edges off them. That experience definitely helped me when I signed with the Dodgers.

"The thing with Mrs. Manley was, she was right there working to integrate baseball. She let me go to the Dodgers, even though she got nothing in return. She let Larry Doby go to the Indians, and got nothing in return. She knew she was destroying her team, her livelihood, but she also knew it was good for society, and good for us. She did the right thing."

Manley's contributions to baseball include working for players' rights, including standardized contracts, improved working conditions and safety. She is credited with being the driving force behind the use of batting helmets, for example. She also insisted the Newark franchise field the best team available, with the best uniforms and equipment, arguing that the team was a reflection of the city.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.