Juan Bell

Juan Bell’s big league career began under daunting circumstances. The younger brother of an MVP, he was traded for one future Hall of Famer and expected to dislodge another from his position. Bell battled those expectations — and more than one teammate — over seven seasons (1989-1995) with five teams in the majors, but the mercurial middle infielder never became the star that many projected. After retiring to his native Dominican Republic, he remained active in baseball until his death.

Juan Bell Mathey was born on March 29, 1968, in San Pedro de Macoris, the youngest of George Vinicio Bell and Juana Fix Mathey’s six children.1 The family grew up near the Santa Fe sugar mill, where his father worked as a railroad engineer. His dad also helped to build the nearby park where he used to manage and play for a Santa Fe semipro team.2 The Bell surname came from Juan’s grandparents, who came from Montserrat in the British West Indies.3

Juan had two sisters, Maricela and Maria.4 His three brothers all signed with major league teams. Rolando, the second youngest, spent two years with a Dodgers’ rookie-level club, while Jose also signed with Los Angeles but never appeared in any professional games. The oldest, George Antonio Bell, was an MVP and three-time All-Star in 12 big league seasons. Juan –nicknamed “Tito” since his youth—rarely got to play with him. “I was too young. By the time I played in the Dominican Republic, George was already out,” he explained.5 “George just told me to work hard if I want to make the major leagues.”6

Tito learned to switch-hit at age 13 but it was primarily his arm strength that impressed scouts.7 He was 16 when Elvio Jimenez and Ralph Avila signed him for the Dodgers on September 1, 1984.8 After his June 1985 graduation from Gaston F. Deligne High School, the 5-foot-11, 172-pounder reported to L.A.’s Gulf Coast League affiliate in Florida. In 42 games for the Rookie-level club, he batted .160 and made 20 errors, playing mostly shortstop.

Given a second chance in the GCL in 1986, he improved his modest numbers, out-hitting his brother Rolando .240 to .211 and leading the first-place team in runs scored. In the pennant clincher, he notched two hits and two RBIs.9

Promoted to the Single-A California League in 1987, Bell committed 53 errors at shortstop for the Bakersfield Dodgers in his first full season. Nevertheless, he impressed Stockton Ports skipper Dave Machemer. “He moves like a gazelle, very fluid with deceiving quickness,” Machemer said. “He makes plays that are unmakeable.”10

While George Bell was going deep 47 times for the Blue Jays to earn AL MVP honors, Tito also bettered his offense, belting his first four pro homers, including a grand slam in a 7-RBI outburst in June.11 Managers and coaches voted him the circuit’s seventh-best prospect.12 The Dodgers promoted him to their 40-man roster and invited him to spring training. “Juan’s style is considerably different than George’s, but he has a chance to become as big a star in the majors,” said Robert Schweppe of L.A.’s player development department.13

Tito spoke to his famous brother twice a week and named him as one of his baseball heroes, along with Tony Fernandez, a fellow switch-hitting shortstop from San Pedro de Macoris.14 He studied three of the position’s stars in particular. “Ozzie [Smith is spectacular. Tony is very good and plays well all the time. Alan]Trammell doesn’t seem to have the range, but he makes the plays, and his team wins games.”15

Bell began 1988 in the Double-A Texas League. He batted .279 for the San Antonio Missions and was voted the circuit’s best defensive shortstop before earning a promotion to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League on June 15.16 To accommodate him, the Albuquerque Dukes shifted veteran shortstop Mariano Duncan to second base. Dukes’ manager Terry Collins noted that Bell could be too aggressive on grounders to his backhand but raved, “He has the best arm for a shortstop that I’ve ever seen.”17

Bell raised his average for the third straight year, to .290, including a .300 mark vs. right-handed pitching. “It goes up every year because I work hard,” he said.18 His 13 home runs were also a personal best. Six came in the last 28 games, including two on the final day.19 Baseball America rated him Los Angeles’s seventh-best prospect overall, and their top infielder.20 With the Dominican League’s Tigres del Licey that winter, Bell was expected to hone his skills playing for manager Bill Russell, a Dodgers’ coach and former All-Star shortstop.

On December 4, 1988, Bell was traded to the Orioles with pitchers Ken Howell and Brian Holton for Eddie Murray. The Dodgers had won the World Series with one switch-hitting Dominican — Alfredo Griffin — manning shortstop and had two others — Jose Vizcaino and Jose Offerman — starring at the position in the low minors. Therefore, it was understandable that they were willing to part with Bell, but other reasons surfaced almost immediately.

In the following day’s Toronto Star, a headline proclaimed, “George’s Brother Juan Unloaded by Dodgers Because of Attitude.”21 Bell had resisted advice regarding his batting stance in winter ball. “Bill Russell said he was hardheaded and wouldn’t adjust,” George Bell explained.22 When the Dodgers convinced Griffin to counsel his protege, Tito reportedly said, “Why should I listen to you? I’m going to take your job.”23

The Orioles processed the reports with a grain of salt. GM Roland Hemond noted that Russell had either just quit or been fired by Licey, and opined that nobody would have heard about the incident had Bell remained a Dodger.24 “I’ve known Juan Bell since he was 10 or 11 years old. He’s shown me he’s not difficult,” insisted Orioles scout Carlos Bernhardt. “I told him he has a big chance at the big leagues. Now he has to do everything like a major leaguer.”25

Bell received similar advice from Licey’s new manager, Joe Ferguson, who chewed him out for throwing his bat and helmet after being removed for a pinch hitter. “I just told him he had to follow the rules like everybody else,” Ferguson explained. “Having major league talent doesn’t mean you can do what you want.”26 “Juan Bell is all right. He just has a bad temper like George Bell,” observed pitcher Juan Guzman. “He’s a good player. He’ll play in the big leagues.”27

Nobody doubted that. Dodgers skipper Tom Lasorda proclaimed, “Bell can play in the big leagues for 15 years.”28 Hemond said he “could be our shortstop for the next 10.”29 Bell split the difference, saying, “I feel like I can live in Baltimore for 12 years.”30

Of course, the Orioles already had Cal Ripken Jr. entrenched at shortstop. While the 28-year-old Ripken’s eventual return to third base was inevitable, Craig Worthington — 1988 International League MVP — was primed to take over the hot corner for Baltimore in 1989. Manager Frank Robinson promised that Bell would be given every opportunity to win a job, but said, “I think he’ll be our shortstop in the near future. It’s not a must that he be our shortstop in 1989.”31

When Bell was sent to the Triple-A International League, he said, “I’m disappointed, but I’ll work hard.”32 With the Rochester Red Wings, the temperature for one April contest was 39 degrees. “I never played in weather like that,” he admitted.33 His father visited after watching George and the Blue Jays play at Yankee Stadium, and predicted he’d have two sons in the majors by summertime. Insisting he’d once been “a better player than any of my boys”, George Vinicio Bell said Tito just needed throw the ball overhand instead of sidearm.34

By late May, however, Tito was on the disabled list with bicep tendinitis after a flurry of errors, mostly on throws.35 His batting average was only .230 and he’d been ejected for smashing his bat on home plate in frustration. “If you throw hard to him, he’ll smoke you. His problem is dealing with off-speed stuff,” observed Rochester manager Greg Biagini. “Right now, he just doesn’t have enough patience.”36

“People tell me, ‘It’s the trade. It’s the trade’,” Bell said. “I don’t feel like there was pressure.”37Adding to his on-field troubles, the hotel where the shortstop stayed with his two young children and their mother demanded pre-payment before he went on a road trip. The 21-year-old didn’t have enough money, causing a stressful situation until the Red Wings became aware and resolved it.38

When Bell returned, he hit safely in his first 10 contests and raised his final average to .262.39 Promoted to the Orioles, he debuted on September 6, playing the final two innings at second base and handling both of his fielding chances. Baltimore remained a surprising contender in the AL East, so a handful of pinch-running appearances and a lone inning at shortstop were his only other action for more than three weeks. After the Orioles lost the division in Toronto on the final weekend, he started the season finale and went hitless in four at bats.

That winter, rumors circulated that Bell had threatened Dominican League teammate Felix Jose with a handgun. Years later, Kevin Kennedy — Licey’s manager that season — acknowledged that the players had a shoving incident over a card game, but insisted the gun report stemmed from a separate incident in which somebody else had fired a bullet that grazed Jose’s head.40 “People say all kinds of things about you that aren’t true,” remarked Bell.41

In 1990, the Orioles remained committed to Worthington and Ripken on the left side of their infield. “I asked them for another chance, but they paid no attention to me,” Bell said.42 Though he played some second base during spring training, he was strictly a shortstop when he returned to Rochester. “The consensus is that Juan has an arm too good to put him at second,” explained Doug Melvin, Baltimore’s player personnel director.43

Bell’s double-play partner with the Red Wings, Tim Dulin, noted his improvement. “He made the flashy play last year, but the routine play was a flip of the coin,” Dulin said. “This year, he’s right there.”44 Though Bell missed more than six weeks because of a nerve injury to his right leg, he was the only Rochester player with two four-hit games.45 He batted .285 as the team finished with the International League’s best record.

Though Bell was on the disabled list for the division-clinching victory in Syracuse, he got into two fights with Rochester outfielder Donell Nixon during the fourth inning.46 “All we’ve heard all year is how much better [Bell] has gotten attitude-wise and how he’s gotten along with his teammates,” said an Orioles official. “But things like this make you wonder.”47

“Sometimes they laughed at me because they couldn’t understand what I was saying or I didn’t understand them,” Bell reflected later. “I got mad at that. When people see you get mad, they say you have a bad attitude.”48

Baltimore explored trading Bell that winter, but the offers were underwhelming.49 He wasn’t going to play shortstop for them. After committing 21 miscues the season before Bell was acquired, Ripken had sliced his error count to eight, and then three. The Orioles brought middle-infield tutor Al Monchak to spring training hoping he could help Bell master second base.50 Since Bell was out of options, he made Baltimore’s Opening Day roster backing up Cal’s brother Bill Ripken at second. When the slow-starting Orioles changed managers in late May, Bell had started only four times and was batting .148. New skipper Johnny Oates promised more of the same. “He told me I was not going to play shortstop for him, right in my face. He wanted to know if I’d try third base or the outfield,” Bell recalled. “It hurt my feelings. It was like I can’t play.”51

Bell’s best chance in a Baltimore uniform arrived in mid-July when Bill Ripken went on the disabled list and he started 33 straight games. He committed late-inning errors in two of the first three, however, leading to unearned runs in one-run defeats. The error in the second of the losses, on July 17 against Kansas City came with two out in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the tying run to score. The Royals won in 15 innings. “He’s killing us out there, and it’s very discouraging,” one teammate complained.52 Beat writer Ken Rosenthal reported that other players were frustrated by Bell’s unwillingness to improve his on-field communication and disgusted by his overreactions to inside pitches.53 Fans booed him in Baltimore, but he continued to play. “The majority of the people in our organization think he’s a bona fide prospect,” Oates explained. “Two years from now, the situation is not going to be any different if I don’t play him and find out.”54 Bell appeared in 100 contests but batted only .172 in 209 at-bats. “It didn’t feel like I was in the big leagues,” he said. “I take two at-bats, then they pinch-hit for me. I don’t say anything. I know I’m a rookie. But it’s like they don’t want me.”55

He’d nearly been traded to Philadelphia for Bruce Ruffin that summer, but Robinson — who’d become Baltimore’s assistant GM — didn’t want the soft-tossing southpaw.56 During spring training 1992, though, Robinson said a change of scenery might be best for Bell. “He’s out of position here,” he observed. “I think if he was able to play shortstop, his development could be more rapid.”57 When the Orioles sent Bell back to Rochester, he was still only 24. “I told them they could release me,” he said. “I would like to get traded. I have to play good to get traded.”58 For two dozen games that summer, he was loaned to the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City. Finally, on August 11, the Orioles traded him to the Phillies for infielder Steve Scarsone. “It feels like a new lease on life,” Bell said. “I prayed that I would get another chance to play up here in the big leagues and, thank God, I got one.”59 He started 45 of the last 48 games for Philadelphia at shortstop and impressed, though a 5-for-49 finish dragged his batting average down to .204.

“I know I can’t get too comfortable,” Bell said in spring training 1993, but there were ominous signs regarding his future even before the club broke camp.60 “He’s making a lot of mental mistakes,” observed Larry Bowa, the coach and former Gold Glove shortstop working with him. “For him to help this team, he cannot do that.”61 He made two errors on Opening Day and lost his full-time job in less than two weeks. “His concentration level wasn’t there,” explained manager Jim Fregosi. “It was a lot of little things. One game he thought he had a walk and there were only three balls.”62 The switch-hitter’s struggles to keep his average above the Mendoza line were complicated by his resistance to advice to choke up on a thicker bat and swing down on the ball.63

The Phillies had the best record in the majors on May 23 when Bell committed three errors in a victory over the Expos in front of a home crowd of 52,911. The boos Veterans Stadium fans had been raining on him since April intensified, and they passed the point of no return when he made two more miscues three nights later, including a ninth-inning blunder that factored in a 5-4 loss to the Mets.64 Bell was due to lead off in the bottom of the ninth but was pulled for a pinch hitter. He had seen his last action with the Phillies. “You could see that the whole thing visibly upset him,” observed Fregosi. “It just did not look like he was going to be able to perform here.”65

GM Lee Thomas placed Bell on irrevocable waivers and called it “the best thing for him.”66 After the Brewers claimed the shortstop, Thomas said, “I’m glad for his sake… that he still has a job in the major leagues.”67 Confronted with inevitable questions about Philadelphia fans upon his arrival in Milwaukee, Bell replied, “What fans?”68

For his first six weeks with the Brewers, Bell was the club’s primary shortstop as 1992 AL Rookie of the Year Pat Listach recovered from a pulled hamstring. He enjoyed seven multi-hit games in his first dozen starts and became the leadoff hitter for a couple of weeks, “I think the change of scenery and being over here with players who are pretty much in his age group where he feels a little more relaxed, it’s going to benefit him,” said hitting coach Gene Clines.69

When George Bell and the White Sox visited Milwaukee in mid-July, Tito began a 12-game hitting streak and was in the lineup against his brother twice. After Listach returned, he played mostly second base and made a lone start in right field. In 91 games with the Brewers, he batted .234 with a career-high five home runs. Even another altercation with a teammate on the final weekend — Bell reportedly punched outfielder Alex Diaz in the dugout — didn’t ruin what seemed like a season of progress.70 “I played for the Oakland A’s and we used to fight before a World Series game,” remarked Milwaukee manager Phil Garner.71

In spring training 1994, however, the Brewers released Bell less than a week before Opening Day. “Juan did a good job for me last year,” Garner said. “But sometimes Juan can look lackadaisical.”72 Bell called Montreal manager Felipe Alou, the majors’ only Dominican skipper, seeking a chance.73 After 23 games with the Expos’ Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, the infielder returned to the big leagues on May 14. Three nights later, he stroked three hits in Philadelphia in his first start. He spent the season in a utility role and batted .278 for a Montreal club that posted the majors’ best record. When the Expos visited Veterans Stadium just before a players’ strike prematurely ended the season, Bell said, “I’m only a part-time player now, but I’m much happier.”74

When Montreal released him, he signed with the Red Sox in early November, shortly after Kennedy — his former winter ball skipper — became Boston’s new manager. Bell began 1995 with the Pawtucket Red Sox in the International League but was called up to Boston in the last week of June. He appeared in 17 games, the most memorable of which came at Fenway Park on Friday August 11. After entering as a pinch-runner in the bottom of 12th and advancing to second on a bunt, Bell fell rounding third base on a double by Lee Tinsley, but got up and beat the throw home by a hair to score the winning run in Boston’s ninth straight victory. “Everything was exciting,” he said. “I’m happy they didn’t get me out because I knew they would be all over me if I missed the play.”75

It was the last run he’d score in the majors. He appeared in two more games but, when the Red Sox set their playoff roster a few weeks later, he was dropped to make room for lefty Zane Smith. In seven major league seasons with five clubs, Bell had appeared in 329 contests, batting .212 with 10 home runs.

He returned to Pawtucket in 1996, but the club released him in July after he was ejected twice in three nights at Toledo.76 “Tito was a very good player, but he had a quick temper,” reflected Ralph Avila, the scout who’d signed him to his first pro contract. “That was his main problem, a quick temper.”77

In 1997, Bell went to the Chinese Professional Baseball League, where he batted .356 with 16 home runs for the Sinon (Taichung, Taiwan) Bulls and led the circuit in runs scored. Upon returning to North America in 1998, he signed with Toronto. “I would like to play with the Blue Jays and be like my brother,” he said. “All I want is one more chance to make the big leagues.”78 Before May was over, however, the 30-year-old had been released by the Triple-A Syracuse Sky Chiefs.

Bell spent the next two seasons in the Mexican League with the Cafeteros de Cordoba and the Piratas de Campeche, plus a nine-game stint in the independent Northern League East. In 2001 he returned to Taiwan with the Chinatrust Whales. In 2003 he represented his country at the Pan American Games and appeared in his 15th and final season in the Dominican League.79 When his playing days were over, he coached the infielders and hitters for several Dominican League teams.

In 2011, Major League Baseball hired Bell to manage a club in El Torneo Supremo, a showcase event for unsigned players in the Dominican Republic.80 That same year, he joined Facebook. For three years, his friends and fans could see him smiling in photos with his family or baseball acquaintances. He seemed to be the picture of health, occasionally posting shirtless while doing pullups or flexing his biceps. In June 2014, however, the last picture he posted showed him with a bandage on the right side of his neck, generating encouraging messages of support from concerned friends.

On August 24, 2016, Juan “Tito” Bell died from kidney failure in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. He was only 48. He was survived by his wife, Xiomara (Reyes), and four children: daughters Neiby and Karielis and sons Juan, Jr. and Joanthony.81 He is buried in the Hugo Chavez highway cemetery at San Pedro de Macoris’ Ingenio Santa Fe.82

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Gregory H. Wolf and Norman Macht and fact-checked by the SABR fact-checking team.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted www.baseball-reference.com and www.retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 “El Licey Lamenta el Fallecimiento de Juan ‘Tito’ Bell,” https://www.mlb.com/es/news/el-licey-lamenta-el-fallecimiento-de-juan-tito-bell-c197441040 (last accessed November 23, 2020).

2 Peter Gammons, “Home is Where His Heart Is,” Sports Illustrated, February 12, 1990: 178.

3 Ron Fimrite, “Toronto’s Big Brass Bell,” Sports Illustrated, September 7, 1987: 31.

4 On a publicity questionnaire Bell filled out on November 1, 1985, he named one sister and three brothers. Sources like that used in Note 1 add a second sister. His Spanish Wikipedia page lists a fourth brother, Elvin. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Bell (last accessed November 8, 2020).

5 Mike Klis, “George Bell’s Younger Brother Earns Respect with His Defense,” Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, August 14, 1988: C9.

6 Al Strachan, “Another Bell Seems Ready to Toll in Majors,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), July 20, 1988: A18.

7 1991 Baltimore Orioles Media Guide: 147.

8 Juan Bell’s Publicity Questionnaire, January 21, 1985.

9 1991 Baltimore Orioles Media Guide: 147.

10 Juan Bell’s 1990 Score Baseball Card.

11 1991 Baltimore Orioles Media Guide: 147.

12 Juan Bell’s 1988 Best San Antonio Missions Baseball Card.

13 Marty York, “Baseball Brother Shines in Dodger Chain: Second Bell Has Appeal,” Globe and Mail, September 23, 1987: D3.

14 Juan Bell’s 1991 Donruss Baseball Card.

15 Strachan, “Another Bell Seems Ready to Toll in Majors.”

16 Juan Bell’s 1990 Score Baseball Card.

17 Klis, “George Bell’s Younger Brother Earns Respect with His Defense.”

18 “Bell Set to Work, Play Well with Orioles,” Baltimore Sun, December 9, 1988: 2D.

19 1991 Baltimore Orioles Media Guide: 147.

20 “1983-2000 Top 10 Prospects Rankings Archive,” https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/1983-2000-top-10-prospects-rankings-archive/ (last accessed November 8, 2020).

21 Neil MacCarl, “A Bell Story with a Familiar Ring: George’s Brother Juan Unloaded by Dodgers Because of Attitude,” Toronto Star, December 5, 1988: D6.

22 Tim Kurkjian, “Orioles, George Bell, Dispute Criticism of Younger Brother’s ‘Hardheadedness’,” Baltimore Sun, February 5, 1989: 14C.

23 Bill Hagerman and Rich Lorenz, “Juan, Here’s This Spiffy New Uniform…Now, Want to Be Our DH?” Chicago Tribune, December 15, 1988: 2.

24 Kurkjian, “Orioles, George Bell, Dispute Criticism of Younger Brother’s ‘Hardheadedness’.”

25 “Bell Set to Work, Play Well with Orioles.”

26 Tim Kurkjian, “Minors are Likely for Bell,” Baltimore Sun, March 14, 1989: 1D.

27 Larry Millson, “Guzman Seeks Spot in Pitching Rotation, But Still a Long Shot,” Globe and Mail, February 24, 1989: A19.

28 Jerome Holtzman, “Dodgers Finally Get Murray in Rich Deal,” Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1988: B1.

29 Mark Vancil, “Murray Trade to Dodgers Official,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), December 5, 1988: 01C.

30 Kent Baker, “Will Bell Come Up Short, or at Shortstop?” Baltimore Sun, February 24, 1989: 1C.

31 Gordon Edes, “Finally Deal is Done: Dodgers Get Murray. Ken Howell, Holton, Bell Traded to Orioles for Slugger,” Los Angeles Times, December 5, 1988: 1.

32 “Ripken to Short; Bell to Minors,” Boston Globe, March 21, 1989: 83.

33 Gary Fallesen, “Pa Bell Sees Bright Future for His Son,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), April 19, 1989: 29.

34 Gammons, “Home is Where His Heart Is.”

35 Patti Singer, “Juan Bell’s Arm to Be Checked,” Baltimore Sun, May 23, 1989: 2D.

36 Jim Henneman, “Juan Bell Maturing Slowly but Steadily,” Los Angeles Times, May 13, 1989: 1.

37 Patti Singer, “Bell Making Murray Trade Look Better,” Baltimore Sun, May 17,1990: 6D.

38 Henneman, “Juan Bell Maturing Slowly but Steadily.”

39 1991 Baltimore Orioles Media Guide: 147.

40 Paul Doyle, “O’Leary’s Place is to Wait His Turn,” Hartford (Connecticut) Courant, February 23, 1996: C5.

41 Mark Maske, “Ask No More: Orioles for Whom Bell Will Toil; Maturity, Versatility Earn Roster Spot,” Washington Post, April 2, 1991: C9.

42 M.G. Missanelli, “Bell Getting Chance to Prove His Career is Not a Washout,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 1992: C4.

43 Kent Baker, “Bell Brothers Find Themselves on Opposite Ends of AL East Showdown,” Baltimore Sun, September 23, 1989: 5B.

44 Singer, “Bell Making Murray Trade Look Better.”

45 Patti Singer, “Red Wings Complete Season With 89 Victories, Best Under Orioles,” Democrat and Chronicle, September 4, 1990: 35.

46 Patti Singer, “Wings Endure 2 Dugout Fights,” Democrat and Chronicle, August 23, 1990: 35

47 Mark Maske, “Robinson’s Next Task: Picking Fifth Starter,” Washington Post, August 25, 1990: D05.

48 M.G. Missanelli, “Bell Getting Chance to Prove His Career is Not a Washout,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 1992: C4.

49 Richard Justice, “No One Wants Juan Bell, So He Gets 2nd Chance,” Washington Post, March 3, 1991: D9.

50 Jim Henneman, “Keeping Bell Appears to be Birds’ Best Option,” Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), March 26, 1991: B1.

51 Ted Silary, “Bell Rings with Aplomb,” Philadelphia Daily News, August 14, 1992: 116.

52 Mark Maske, “Bell Must Pivot, Prospect to Player,” Washington Post, July 19, 1991: C05.

53 Ken Rosenthal, “After Class, Birds Should Ring Final Bell,” Evening Sun, July 22, 1991: E1.

54 Maske, “Bell Must Pivot, Prospect to Player.”

55 Silary, “Bell Rings with Aplomb.”

56 Ken Rosenthal, “There are No Winners in Birds-Bell Impasse,” Evening Sun, March 18, 1992: 1E.

57 Rosenthal, “There are No Winners in Birds-Bell Impasse.”

58 Patti Singer, “Bell Toils for Red Wings, But He’s Not Happy About It,” Baltimore Sun, May 3, 1992: 10E.

59 Missanelli, “Bell Getting Chance to Prove His Career is Not a Washout.”

60 Paul Hagen, “Juan Down, Juan to Go?” Philadelphia Daily News, March 19, 1993: 126.

61 Hagen, “Juan Down, Juan to Go?”

62 Frank Fitzpatrick, “Shortstop Juan Bell is Claimed Off Waivers by Brewers,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 2, 1993: D5.

63 Fitzpatrick, “Shortstop Juan Bell is Claimed Off Waivers by Brewers.”

64 “Boos in Philly Not Ringing in Bell’s Ears,” Baltimore Sun, April 24, 1993: 2C.

65 Tom Flaherty, “Bell Moves from Jeers to Cheers,” Milwaukee Journal, June 18, 1993: C1.

66 Fitzpatrick, “Shortstop Juan Bell is Claimed Off Waivers by Brewers.”

67 Paul Hagen, “Bell Waived, Picked Up by Brewers,” Philadelphia Daily News, June 2, 1993: 85.

68 Tom Flaherty, “Bell Moves from Jeers to Cheers.”

69 Tom Flaherty, “Bell Moves from Jeers to Cheers.”

70 Bob Berghaus, “Dugout Scuffle Between Bell, Diaz is Settled Quickly,” Milwaukee Journal, October 2, 1993: 8.

71 Tom Haudricourt, “Dugout Scuffles Mars Victory Over Red Sox,” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 2, 1993: 1B.

72 Tom Flaherty, “Spiers Unsure of Future,” Milwaukee Journal, March 15, 1994: C1.

73 “Expos Story,” Gazette (Montreal), April 7, 1994: C2.

74 Paul Hagen, “Boos Have a Familiar Ring to Bell,” Philadelphia Daily News, August 8, 1994: 89.

75 Joy Burris, “Bell’s Get-Up-and-Go in Pinch Prevented Great Fall,” Boston Globe, August 12, 1995: 59.

76 Joe Giuliotti, “Pawsox’ Bell Rings Up Release,” Boston Herald, July 5, 1996: 70.

77 Justin Klugh, “Juan Bell Was There When it All Began, But Not When it Ended,” https://www.thegoodphight.com/2018/5/9/17162948/phillies-philadelphia-macho-low-part-5-juan-bell-was-also-there (last accessed December 11, 2020).

78 Matt Michael, “George Bell’s Little Brother Signs on With Jays,” Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), March 27,1998: D6.

79 “FENAPEPRO Expresa Su Pesar Por Muerte Del Ex Jugador Tito Bell,” https://www.licey.com/fenapepro-expresa-su-pesar-por-muerte-del-ex-jugador-tito-bell/ (last accessed November 11, 2020).

80 “El Torneo Supremo: On Field Support,” http://mlb.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/mlb/y2011/m06/d30/c21206182.jsp (last accessed November 11, 2020).

81 “El Licey Lamenta El Fallecimiento de Juan “Tito” Bell,” https://www.mlb.com/es/news/el-licey-lamenta-el-fallecimiento-de-juan-tito-bell-c197441040 (last accessed November 11, 2020).

82 “Fallece en San Pedro El Ex Pelotero Juan Bell “Tito”,” http://consuelocity.com/m.aspx?id=7816 (last accessed November 11, 2020).