Bell had a reputation for being meticulous in his dress and work habits and was universally respected by his peers. He was honest. He was kind. He was a clean liver. In the early s, Bell returned to St. Louis where his career had begun, and where in he had met and married his wife Clarabelle. He spent two decades as a night watchman at St. Louis City Hall. She was the same woman who had traveled with him through the years, who had kept his voluminous scrapbooks, and who had gently endured his itinerant life.
Bell lived in an old, red-brick apartment in a St. Louis neighborhood with vacant lots and boarded up storefronts. He attended church every Sunday and had his name in the phone book. Bell occasionally attended a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium where he usually sat unrecognized in the crowd. Born at least ten years too early to play in the major leagues, Bell was never bitter.
I say the doors were opened too late. Holding no grudges, Bell graciously appeared at the annual induction ceremonies year after year and received ovations from the fans. His obituary in the New York Times noted that when told about his election, Bell said it was his biggest honor but not his biggest thrill.
He died March 7, , at age 87 in St. Two months later he was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame, which honors individuals from the St. The marker is located at the Little League baseball park to show that there was once a little boy from Starkville, Mississippi, who ran so fast he made it all the way to the Hall of Fame. Bak, Richard. Wayne State University Press, , Brashler, William. Ivan R. The Homestead Grays failed to win the title, but Bell amazed everyone by leading the batting race near the end of the season.
Soon, he performed one of his most selfless acts as he ceded the title to Monte Irvin. I was too old, but Monte was young and had a chance for a future. It was important he be noticed, important he get that chance. Bell managed this team through and turned out to be adept at recognizing future stars. With major-league integration just around the corner, it was difficult for players like Bell not to wonder what might have been. Had integration come sooner, fans could have witnessed the greatness of players like Bell, Gibson, Charleston, Leonard, Johnson, and Suttles in their primes.
For more than a decade before Jackie Robinson was signed, the hope that the color barrier might be broken seemed tantalizingly close. They was lying. News that Robinson was about to sign with the Dodgers had many veterans worried that he might not make it.
We was worried. So I made up my mind to show him he should try for another spot in the infield. Jackie smiled. He got the message. Bell produced another highlight in when Satchel Paige got him to suit up against a team led by future Hall of Famer Bob Lemon and, ironically, Jackie Robinson. Well, Bob Lemon came off the mound to field it and I saw that third base was open, because the third baseman had also charged in to field it.
Roy Partee , the catcher, saw me going to third, so he went down the line to cover third and I just came on home past him. Cool Papa Bell finally hung up his spikes for good in and moved back to St. Louis with his wife, Clara, where he took a job working for the city, first as a custodian and later as a night watchman.
The Dodgers asked him to help out young speedster Maury Wills. That way the catcher, he got to back up. Cardinals speed demon Lou Brock also listened and learned when Bell was around. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck made an attempt to sign both Bell and Buck Leonard in , but both players were well past their primes.
I never had any money, so I never worried about it. Sometimes pride is more important than money. Bell and Clara continued to live in their small St. Louis apartment, which was surrounded by abandoned stores and vacant lots. Bell worked for nine years as a city hall custodian and spent another 13 years as the night watchman on the midnight-to-8 shift.
In the meantime, Bell had to wait until to finally get the call every ballplayer dreams of. Bell remained cool when he was given the news. What he said had a tremendous amount of meaning. It was the sermon of the evening, the inspiration and mood-setting for the whole weekend. Bell made the trip from St. Louis to Cooperstown every year until his health finally prevented him from traveling toward the end of his life.
He signed autographs, took pictures, and talked with fans for hours until no one remained. Besides Clara, baseball has been my whole life. Bell suffered a heart attack shortly thereafter, on February 27, and died at St. Louis University Hospital on March 7. His dream got deferred. I just hope somewhere in history that his performance gets accurately recorded. In , at his home in St. Louis, he reflected on his life.
I wanted to meet interesting people, to travel, and to have nice clothes. Baseball allowed me to do all those things, and most important … it allowed me to become a member of a brotherhood of friendship which will last forever. Hall of Fame archives. All statistics are from Seamheads unless otherwise noted. Young , J. Wilkinson and the Kansas City Monarchs , Dee, , Louis Post Dispatch , August 9, Louis Post Dispatch , March 17, Support SABR today! Central Ave. All Rights Reserved. Full Name James Thomas Bell.
He later said that his mother was mostly of Native American descent while his father was Black. The colorful stories that Paige would later tell about Bell give the impression that he was a carefree fellow, but his upbringing in Mississippi was anything but that. Later in life, Bell told an interviewer that the students at the college would sometimes throw rocks at him while he was trying to work.
At age 19, Bell joined the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League as a pitcher. His relatives back in Starkville continued to call him J. Despite a pitching arsenal with a variety of breaking balls thrown from various angles, there was no missing his exceptional foot speed. A sore arm drove him from the pitching mound to center field in There is no official record of Negro Leagues Baseball statistics.
The above was compiled using various sources including the Negro Leagues Database at seamheads. I turned around and saw the ball hit him sliding into second. In fact, he may have been the fastest player in baseball history.
Bell is legendary for his speed, taking two or even three bases on a bunt, beating out ground balls back to the mound, and registering as nothing more than a blur around the bases for 27 years. He played shallow in center field because he was able to go back and run down just about anything hit over his head that stayed in the ballpark.
0コメント