The Alabama Florida League Web Site

One of the most interesting stories in the history of the Alabama-Florida League is that of Manuel "Manny" Russo. Russo played in the AFL for 9 seasons and managed the Andalusia Arrows in 1949. Not only was Russo a versatile player, he was a war hero who didn't let a serious injury stop him from returning to the game he loved.

Manny Russo was a fixture in the Alabama-Florida League. He spent most of his career in the AFL, the exception being two partial seasons in the Georgia-Florida League. Russo could play any position: He caught, played third, short, second and the outfield during his 9 seasons in the AFL. He was a powerful hitter, compiling a lifetime batting average of .296. Manny grew up in a large family in Birmingham, Alabama and had enough siblings to field a team. Very likely, the Russo kids spent much of their free time playing ball and Manny became a standout ballplayer, good enough to make a go of it as a professional. Manny's pro career started in 1936, the first year of the Alabama-Florida League, when he signed to with the Birmingham Barons organization and was assigned to the Barons farm team in Enterprise, Alabama. In his rookie season, Manny played in 66 games, batting a respectable .285. After the Alabama-Florida season ended, Russo played a few games with Thomasville in the Georgia-Florida League, where he batted .235. Early in 1937, Russo found himself without a team when Enterprise folded before the season began. Evergreen, Alabama sought after and successfully acquired the failed Enterprise franchise, and Russo and his teammates became Evergreen Greenies. In Evergreen, he managed to get into 109 games, but his hitting was rather mediocre. Manny batted a tepid .249, with 3 homers and 38 RBIs. In 1938, Russo got a good break and signed a contract 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, Wingard saw potential in Russo and re-signed him for the 1939 season. Because of a strong preseason, Manager Wingard decided to make Russo a starting outfielder and Manny responded with his best start to date. Russo's performance drew attention around the league, and by midseason, the Troy Trojans engineered a trade to get Manny. Despite the chance of venue, Russo continued to play well and finished the year playing in 121 out of 130 games, batting a strong .290, and hitting twice as many homers (12) as he had accumulated in his first three seasons combined. Russo also had an excellent strikeout to walk ratio, with more than twice as many walks (75) as strikeouts (35). In 1940, Manny signed a contract with the Andalusia Rams. The south Alabama town was a good fit for Russo and he enjoyed living there enough to make it his permanent home. Continuing where he left off in 1939, Russo was a solid player for the Rams, playing in 123 games, batting .281 and knocking 37 doubles. Manny was becoming a respected offensive talent in the league and he was getting better each season. In 1941, Russo played 55 games for Andalusia and was off to his best start to date, batting .332. Then, in a financial move, Andalusia dealt Russo to Tallahassee in the Georgia-Florida League. Manny finished his season there, then went off to serve in the military.

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. In 1944, Russo was an infantry solder in the Solomon Islands campaign. In early July, Russo was on patrol when he encountered a Japanese soldier in a foxhole. The Japanese soldier, armed with a machete, engaged Russo in hand-to-hand combat. During the attack, the enemy soldier chopped off two fingers and a portion of Manny's left hand. Although severely injured, Russo struggled with the soldier and eventually killed his attacker. Manny was rescued and brought to a military hospital when he recuperated during the late summer of 1944. The hand injury was severe, but Russo had no intention of letting it stop him from returning to the baseball diamond. He had been a pro ball player before the war, and he intended to continue in his chosen profession. After his discharge from the service, Russo returned home to Alabama and spent 1945 learning to use his damaged hand to catch and hit baseballs again. In 1946, the Alabama State League reformed and Manny took the opportunity to convince the Geneva Red Birds to give him a tryout. Even with his injury, Russo was one of the top players in camp. Because of his determination and drive, Russo was once again one of the premier hitters in the league. He played in 94 games for Geneva, batting an impressive .349, while doing a respectable job at third base. Then 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. The combination of Russo batting cleanup and teammate "Bubba" Donner batting fifth lead to much of the Arrows' run production. Both players were selected to the League's All star team that year, but Russo's accomplishment deserved special recognition. As inspirational as Manny's return was, he certainly received no special treatment. There was no easing up on him because of his injury. In fact, the injury seemed to make him a target for abuse from other teams' players. Chick Earle, a teammate of Russo's, said that Greenville pitcher Pershing Flowers would hit Manny every time that he pitched against him. In 1947, Russo was hit by a pitch 21 times, more than double the number of plunkings he had received in any other season. The AFL in the 1940's was a loose, unruly league where fights, taunts, and even an occasional assault from a fan were not unusual. Players had to be thick-skinned to endure the insults of rival fans, and sometime things could get quite heated. The language at the ballparks was often course, and Russo was an easy target for opposing fans because of his dark complexion. Russo was of Southern Italian heritage and his olive complexion was often the attacking point of the opposition. Hostile fans would taunt him by calling him a "nigger", which was particularly insulting to a white player in the segregated south. During one game in Troy, Russo was persistently taunted by a fan who questioned Russo's racial background until Manny's blood boiled over. At the end of an inning while Manny was leaving the field after the third out, he suddenly made a beeline for the bleachers where to abusive fan sat and he jumped into the stands after him. The fan quickly lost his courage and made a mad dash for the turnstiles. Russo chased the fan completely out of the stadium, much to the entertainment of the crowd. The obnoxious fan never looked back as he scrambled away from the ball yard. Manny also had a few run-ins with opposing catchers. Because of his injury, he'd occasionally lose control of the bat. A healthy swing and a miss might result in the bat flying around and hitting the catcher on the back swing. Many of the toughest characters in the league worked behind the plate, but Manny wasn't the type to back down. He had faced tougher circumstances in the past and he could certainly 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. Russo remained in Andalusia the rest of his life, running a small business in town and keeping in touch with the local baseball fans. 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, Manny Russo would probably have been surprised to know that 40 plus years after the league disbanded he would be remembered. He accomplished quite a bit in his minor league career, but his triumph over a disabling injury was his greatest achievement.