Williamsport, PA native Don Manno spent thirteen active seasons in professional baseball from 1935 to 1951. He appeared in the major leagues with the Boston Bees in three games late in the 1940 season and made 22 appearances for the Boston Braves in 1941. During his short stay in the big leagues he played in both the outfield and infield, hitting for an average of .189 with 7 hits in 37 at-bats, including one home run. This was the sum-total of his work in the big leagues.

In his three decade tour of the minor leagues he had five seasons that he hit over the coveted .300 mark. Don's best numbers came in 1942 when he hit .381 with 34 round trippers as player-manager for the Welch Miners of the class C Mountain State League. He hit .313 in 1936 for the Norfolk Tars of the class B Piedmont League and also hit .301 in 1940 for the Evansville Bees of the class B Three I League. Don moved up a notch to the class A Eastern League and hit .322 for the Hartford Bees in 1943.

Manno spent the next two seasons (1944-45) with the United States Navy during World War II and returned to the playing field to hit .302 for the Hartford Chiefs of the Eastern League in 1946.

Don played in both the outfield and infield through-out his active seasons in the minors, with statistics showing he appeared in 1,346 games with 162 home runs and a career .293 hitting average. He reached his highest playing level in 1947 when he appeared in four games for the Seattle Rainiers of the AAA Pacific Coast League. Don went 2 for 6 for a .333 average at the tail end of the season. He finished out his professional career in 1951 with the Williamsport Tigers of the Eastern League at the age of 36, hitting .261 with nine homers in 106 games.

Along with being player-manager for the Welch club in 1942 Don served in the same capacity for 51 games for the Hartford Bees in 1941 and 77 games for the Waycross Bears of the Georgia-Florida League in 1950.

Manno then became an agent for Baltimore Life Insurance Company for many years. He retired as director of the insurance division for Little League Baseball, Inc. For 45 years he officiated local and collegiate baseball, football and basketball. Manno Died after an extended illness on March 11, 1995 at his home in Williamsport, PA. He was eighty years of age. The fruits of his labor can be seen with the consistently great little league program in Williamsport.

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)