Panini’s Cooperstown includes first baseball cards of first woman elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

If one wants to see the depth of the inclusions in the new 2012 Cooperstown baseball card set from Panini America, one doesn’t need to land a Vin Scully autograph or an Alexander Cartwright card.

One needs to find one of the two cards of Effa Manley, the first and only woman elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

The product, which arrived this week, includes the first two baseball cards of the social pioneer other than her Hall of Fame plaque postcards that have been issued since 2006, the year of her election.

Manley appears on card No. 7 in the Hall History insert set as well as card No. 47 in the Bronze History insert, a set where each card is limited to 599 serial-numbered copies.

She was the first woman elected to the Hall for her work as co-owner and business manager of the Newark Eagles Negro League team from 1936 to 1948. She was among 17 players and contributors elected in 2006.

“This is a historic day at the Hall of Fame,” museum president Dale Petroskey told The Associated Press after her election. “I hoped that someday there would be a woman in the Hall. It’s a pretty proud moment.”

Notable players for the Eagles were fellow Hall of Famers Larry Doby (who was the first black player in the American League), Leon Day, Biz Mackey, Ray Dandridge, Monte Irvin and Willie Wells.

Manley died at age 84 back in 1981, and her life’s story is quite an interesting one. (Click here to read more.)

It’s fitting she finally has a baseball card.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.