Manny Russo Tribute

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Manny
Russo was a man who loved playing baseball in Alabama-Florida
League. He spent his entire career in the AFL, with the exception
of two partial seasons in the Georgia-Florida League. Russo could
play just about anywhere: He caught, played third, short, second
and the outfield during his 9 seasons in the AFL. He was a great
hitter, compiling a lifetime batting average of .296. Manny had
grown up in Birmingham and was one of nine boys in the Russo family,
enough kids to field their own team. Very likely, the Russo brothers
spent much of their free time playing ball and Manny grew to be
good enough to make a go of it as a professional ballplayer. Manny’s
career started in 1936, the first year of the Alabama-Florida
League, when he signed to play with the Enterprise Barons. He
managed to play in 66 games, batting a respectable .285. Russo
also managed to play a few games with Thomasville in the Georgia-Florida
League, where he batted .235. It’s unclear whether Russo spent
the early part of the season or the late part of the season in
the GFL. As the 1937 season began, Russo found himself without
a team when Enterprise folded before the first game. Evergreen,
Alabama applied for the franchise option vacated by Enterprise,
and Russo joined the Greenies for the season. He managed to get
into 109 games, but his hitting was rather mediocre. Manny batted
.249, with 3 homers and 38 RBIs. In 1938,
Russo got a good break and signed with the powerful Dothan Browns,
lead by AFL legend Ernie « Doc » Wingard. Russo played
the outfield, and second base for the league leaders, but for
the second straight year his average declined. His .232 average
in 70 games was disappointing; nevertheless, he re-signed with
the Browns for the 1939 season. Manager Wingard decided to make
Russo a starting outfielder and Manny responded with his strongest
start yet. Evidently, the Troy Trojans took notice of Russo and
engineered a trade for him in the early midseason. Russo finished
the year playing in 121 games, batting a strong .290, and hitting
twice as many homers (12) than he had accumulated in his first
three seasons.Russo also had twice as many walks (75) than strikeouts
(35). In 1940, Manny signed with the Andalusia Rams and he found
himself a home in the friendly south Alabama town. Russo was a
solid player for the Rams, playing in 123 games, batting .281
and knocking 37 doubles. Russo was becoming an important and respected
player in the league and he was ready to blossom in 1941.

It’s not known whether Manny was injured for part of the 1941
season, or his draft number had come up, but he played in only
55 games for Andalusia. Regardless, Russo’s bat was on fire. He
finished the season with a batting average of .332. Suddenly,
things changed. Manny Russo, like many young men at the time,
turned in his bat for a gun and shipped off to the war in the
Pacific. At some point during the war, Russo was on patrol when
he encountered a Japanese soldier in a foxhole. The Japanese soldier,
armed with a machete, attacked Russo and chopped off two fingers
and a portion of Manny’s left hand. Russo, in the fight of his
life, took on the soldier and even with the terrible hand injury,
Russo is said to have killed the Japanese soldier with his bare
hands. The hand injury was severe, but evidently Russo had no
intention of letting it stop him from returning to the game he
loved. After the war, Manny returned to Alabama and managed to
convince the Geneva Red Birds to give him a tryout. Manny learned
to catch with his damaged glove hand, making the stiff old-style
mitt do it’s job. His grip on the bat was somewhat compromised,
but he found that even with his injury he could get around on
a pitch better than just about anybody in the league. Because
of his determination, Russo became one of the premier hitters
in the AFL. He played in 94 games for Geneva, batting an impressive
.349, while doing a repectable job at third base. In 1947, Russo
returned to the Andalusia Arrows and had a career year. In 119
games, Manny batted .343 with 19 home runs and 87 RBI’s. Russo
batted cleanup and teammate « Bubba » Donner batted fifth.
Both players were selected to the All star team that year, but
Russo’s accomplishment was extraordinary. He earned his position
on the team by playing hard everyday. There was no special treatment
for Russo, no easing up on him because of his injury. In fact,
he seemed to take quite a bit more abuse than other players. Chick Earle, a teammate of Russo’s, said that
Greenville pitcher Pershing Flowers would hit Manny everytime
the he pitched against him. Russo was hit by a pitch 21 times
in 1947, more than double the number of HBP’s he had in any other
season. The opposing fans were merciless too.
Russo was Italian and olive-complexioned. Opposing fans would
taunt him about his heritage and dark skin, calling him a « nigger »,
which was particulary insulting to a white player in the segregated
south. One time in Troy, Russo was taunted by a fan to the point
where he could take no more. He jumped into the stands in hot
pursuit of the fan, who lost his courage and made a beeline for
the turnstyles. Russo reportedly chased the fan out of the stadium.
Manny also got into a few squabbles with opposing catchers. Because
of his injury, he’d occasionally lose control of the bat. A swing
and a miss might result in the bat coming all the way around and
bonking the catcher. The Alabama-Florida League was filled with
a bunch of tough characters and many of them worked behind the
plate, but any guy who could kill a machete-weilding attacker
with his bare hands certainly could hold his own with another
ballplayer. Russo didn’t play professional baseball in 1948, but
he returned the the Alabama State League for one final go-around
in 1949, this time as player-manager of the Andalusia Arrows.
The Arrows were not a strong team and after spending the first
half of the season in the cellar, the Andalusia ownership replaced
Manny with Bob Engle. Engle had some success and brought the team
up a few notches in the standings by season’s end. Manny had played
in 38 games during his final year, batting .299. The end of the
line had come, and Manny decided to stay in Andalusia, where he
had many friends both on and off the field. Manny remained there
the rest of his life, running a small business in town and keeping
in touch with his local baseball friends. While many of the details
of Manny’s life are lost to the ages, his story is one that deserves
attention. Like most Class D players, he would probably have been
surprised to know that 39 years after the league disbanded, baseball
fans are actually interested in the league he played in. Manny
Russo accomplished quite a bit in his minor league career, but
he accomplished even more by not letting a severe injury keep
him from the game he loved.