Known as "Dr. Cyclops," he possessed one of the all-time great nicknames.

MAX MANNING

NEGRO LEAGUES
%tm wat/ tm avg tm
YEAR LG TEAM W L pct dec WAT dec dec decs in lg
1939 NNL NWK 4 4 .500 18% -1.4 -.18 45 33
1940 NNL NWK 14 7 .667 39% 2.5 .12 54 57
1941 NNL NWK 5 2 .714 21% .9 .12 34 41
1942 NNL NWK 6 7 .462 27% -.9 -.07 49 41
1946 NNL NWK 13 1 .929 18% 2.4 .17 76 52
1947 NNL NWK 15 6 .714 27% 4.5 .21 79 60
1948 NNL NWK 10 4 .714 100% 0.0 .00 14 37
TOTAL 67 31 .684 28% 8.0 .08 351 321
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As I recollect, Manning served two or three years in the war, but I'm not sure about that.

Also, someone please correct me if I have the facts wrong, but I think he might have played minor league ball, but he hurt his arm which ruined his big-league aspirations.

At lunch I was able to gather a little more info from Holway, Riley, and Cisneros.

1) Manning was indeed drafted and served 1943-1945.

2) Riley says he pitched in Cuba from 1946-1949, I assume he means in the CWL. He then spent 1950 in Venezuala in Maricaoba.

3) He finished off his career by pitching two seasons in Mexico, 1951 and 1953.

He went a combined 5-9 in 131.33 innings, sporting ERAs of 3.02 and 4.27 in the two seasons. His H, BB, and K rates seem pretty respectable given the league's propensity to high hit rates and low K/BB rates.

4) Riley reports that in spring training 1948 or 1949, Manning, a holdout, was approached by Alejandro Pompez. Pompez was acting on behalf of the NY Giants. A deal was set for Manning to sign with the Giants, but Max declined to sign until some provision was made for the Manleys to receive compensation for his loss to "organized" baseball. With the lack of spring training, Manning's arm wasn't in great shape when the season got underway, and he was called upon to relieve early in the year. He didn't have enough time to properly warm up, then went out and hurled eight innings. During the stint, he suffered a "seperated shoulder," which required surgery and ruined his chances at the bigs.