Jay Bell

Jay Bell stepped into the batter’s box in Minneapolis wearing his Cleveland uniform for the first time. The date was September 29, 1986, the place the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and not only was this Bell’s first major-league game as a player, it was also the first major-league game he ever attended. The Cleveland Indians came to Minnesota to face the Twins, the team that had drafted Bell in the first round as the eighth overall pick in 1984.

“Mike Hargrove [Instructional League manager] came over and told me I was going to Cleveland,” said Bell. “It was the furthest thing from my mind. I packed my clothes and went to bed about 2:30 in the morning. It took me at least an hour to go to sleep.”1 Bell was inserted into the lineup as soon as he arrived at the Metrodome, batting in the ninth spot and manning second base. In the bottom of the third inning with two outs, Bell got his first chance at the plate in a scoreless game.

Bert Blyleven, the Twins pitcher, spiraled a first-pitch fastball at the rookie, whose smooth swing launched the ball 389 feet into the left-field bleachers. Not only a home run, but a first-pitch, first-major-league at-bat home run. Bell joined a rarefied fraternity of only 137 players who hit a home run the first time they stepped up to the plate in the major leagues and one of only 31 players who (through June 2024) hit a home run on their first major-league pitch.2

The home run was monumental for Jay Bell, and it was also historic for future Hall of Famer Blyleven. With Bell’s blast, he had given up 47 home runs in the season, besting the 46 that Robin Roberts had given up with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1956. Blyleven would go on to allow 50 home runs in 1986, a record that still stood as of 2024.3

A year after Bell was drafted by the Minnesota Twins, the organization decided to move on from its first-round pick. Bell’s bat was developing its consistency as a .282 hitter for the Visalia Oaks (Class-A California League), but his glove was a liability at shortstop. In 166 games in the Twins minor leagues, he made 78 errors, a rate of an error every other game. When he entered rookie ball, “I thought that I was the best of the best,” Bell thought. “And I quickly realized that I was just one of them. I was in a much bigger pool than I thought. There was a humbling in a hurry.”4 The Twins packaged Bell with Curt Wardle and Jim Weaver to entice the Cleveland Indians to part with their veteran hurler Blyleven.

By an artful twist of fate, Bell would prove himself in that first at-bat against Blyleven and the organization that had so swiftly shipped him off to Cleveland.

“I enjoyed it,” said Bell. “It was definitely a thrill hitting it against Blyleven. It’s so ironic because I was traded for him.”5

Jay Stuart Bell was born to Ron and Betty Bell on December 11, 1965, on Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Ron was a master sergeant in the Air Force. He coached his son in Little League while Betty worked at the concession stand. He attended Tate High School in Cantonment, Florida, and continued the storied success of the school’s baseball program. The high school also was home to Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton.6 Bell’s 1984 squad went 35-1 and won the Florida state championship, the school’s fourth title.7 The team’s performance attracted scouts to Florida to eye the shortstop and make him a consensus top-10 pick in that year’s amateur draft.

After being drafted in the first round by Cleveland, Bell spent 66 games in Rookie ball in Elizabethton, Tennessee, batting .220. He made 25 errors at shortstop. In 1985, his first full season as a player, Bell found a consistent swing and hit around .290 for the year, but he continued to struggle in the field, making 59 errors in 131 games. Still, Bell was promoted to Double-A Waterbury (Eastern League) for 1986. Before his call-up in September, Bell batted .277 and drove in 74 runs.

Despite his first-game heroics, Bell did not find a stable home on the Indians roster in 1987 or 1988, playing only 111 games over the two seasons and scuffling with a .216 and then .218 batting average.8

Bell was recognizable for wearing eyeglasses during games. There was identifiable talent in his 6-foot-1 frame, especially in his early approach at the plate and his smooth hitting mechanics. Bell even caught the attention of his childhood hero. “I remember in 1988, we went into Kansas City and George Brett, who I tried to emulate growing up, came over to me and says: ‘Jay, do you still have that pretty swing?’ I said: ‘You’re George Brett, you shouldn’t be talking to me that way.’”9

In March 1989 the Indians sent Bell to the Pittsburgh Pirates as the player to be  named later in an earlier deal. He was on to his third team and the first one on which he would claim a starting role and capture the attention of a fan base.

The 1989 Pirates finished under .500 but were on the doorstep of a becoming a winning franchise. The core of their lineup – Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Andy Van Slyke – revealed themselves as stars who could carry a roster. Bell played 78 games, batting .258

The 1990 season saw an emergence for both Bell and his black-and-gold squad. For the first of many seasons, Bell earned and held the starting shortstop role. The Pirates’ hitters, led by National League MVP Barry Bonds, drove the team to success, being the third-best lineup in the majors according to OPS+ (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, normalized across the entire league). Their starting rotation, led by 22-game-winner Doug Drabek, held opposing hitters at bay enough for the Pirates to win 95 games and capture the National League East title. Bell’s first trip to the playoffs ended in a six-game loss to the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Championship Series.

The 1991 season brought more success, with the Pirates winning 98 games and taking NL East honors. Bell continued to improve on both sides of the game, having his first season at the plate in which he earned better than league average OPS+, and playing well enough for 3.9 Wins Above Replacement (WAR, a measure of how many wins a player contributes to a team compared to the value of a replacement-level player that season). The season ended for the team with another playoff exit, as the Atlanta Braves sent the Pirates home in a seven-game series in the NL Championship Series. However, Bell was a bright spot in the series, hitting .414 in 30 plate appearances.

The 1992 season began with anticipation for Pittsburgh. The Pirates had proven themselves as a stacked roster with championship ambitions. Under future Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland, they had come within one win of a World Series invitation the season before. But as the stalwart sports fan understands, the greatest hope can yield to the greatest pain. The Pirates again won the NL East, building on stellar hitting by Bonds and company. Bell put in another consistent campaign at the difficult infield position, batting .264 and repeating his 3.9 WAR effort. Advancing to the playoffs, the Pirates again met the Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series. Once more they fought all the way to Game Seven.

The Pirates entered the bottom of the ninth inning leading 2-0. They were one out away from their first trip to the World Series since 1979, and they let the game slip away. With the bases loaded and two outs, Braves pinch-hitter Francisco Cabrera drove a hit into left field. David Justice scored to tie the game. Sid Bream rounded third and sprinted home, testing the sure arm of Bonds. Bream slid and the Braves stole the pennant from the shocked Pirates.10

The heartbreaking end of the 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates season left an indelible mark on the city and the team. The highlight reel of Bream sliding home and a dejected Bonds sitting on his knees in left field was burned into the collective memory of Pirates fans. The ’92 season marked the end of a productive era for the Pirates, who had won the NL East Division for three straight years. They did not see postseason play again until 2013, ignominiously setting a league record of 20 consecutive losing seasons.

Coming into the 1993 season, the Pirates faithful had little reason for optimism. The crushing playoff loss was coupled with Bonds, their best hitter, and Drabek, their ace pitcher, departing as free agents. “Without question, we’ve had a few black eyes in the last months,” said manager Leyland.11

Despite the concern for the club’s competitiveness, there was little worry about Bell’s role and continued effectiveness. “Some guys you can just count on for the same effort and production day in and day out and you never have to worry about them,” Leyland said. “Jay Bell is one of those guys.”12 Bell had proved to be a durable presence in the lineup, being one of only seven players in the National League who started 150 or more games in the previous three seasons.

The Pirates fell to fifth place in 1993 with a record of 75-87. But trust in Bell proved to be well-placed as he put in the best season of his career, earning a 6.2 WAR. He hit .310 with an OPS+ of 124, signifying that he was 24 percent better at the plate than the average hitter.

Bell’s performance was rewarded with his first selection to the All-Star Game. “It’s an honor and privilege to be included with some of the game’s best,” Bell said, “but I’m not in the game to be recognized. I’m in the game to do my best to help the team win.”13

At season’s end, the accolades continued. Bell earned his only Silver Slugger Award as the best-hitting shortstop of the year. He bested Barry Larkin of the Cincinnati Reds, who had won it the previous five years. Bell, however, also led the team in strikeouts in each of the previous three years, and his 122 strikeouts in 1993 were sixth highest in the National League. But when he made contact he was a productive hitter, recording the eighth-highest number of hits in the major leagues. He also had 39 sacrifice hits in 1990 and was considered a unique specialist for sacrifice hits throughout his career. There have only been five seasons since 1960 in which a player had 30 or more sacrifice hits. Bell had two of them, in 1990 and 1991.

Then, in a shock that ricocheted throughout the baseball world, Bell won the Gold Glove in 1993 for his defense at shortstop. The award broke a 13-year winning streak by Ozzie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals. Bell led all shortstops in fielding percentage (.986) with 11 errors to Smith’s 19. “It’s something I never expected to win, but always strived for,” said Bell.14 The honor must have been a validating recognition, since Bell had struggled with his defense in his early years, prompting conversation among talent evaluators about his ability to hold down the vital position. Indeed, just two years earlier, he led all shortstops with 24 errors. “That was one thing they said 10 years ago – that I would eventually have to move to third base,” Bell said. “It seemed like nobody thought I could be a major league shortstop.”15 The 1993 season put that trepidation to rest, establishing Bell as one of the premier shortstops of the 1990s.

The next three seasons, 1994-1996, continued to produce middling results for the Pirates, each season a below-.500 affair. Bell continued his consistent performance, which earned him a 3.4 WAR in 1994. While his bat leveled off from the heights of his 1993 season, his glove maintained its charm. Bell led all shortstops in fielding percentage and all fielders in assists in 1996.

After eight seasons in the Steel City, the bell tolled for Bell’s time in a Pirates uniform. The Pirates were no longer contenders and wanted to shed payroll to build a renewed roster from younger talent. Pittsburgh packaged him with power-hitting infielder Jeff King and traded them, along with $2.2 million in cash, to the Kansas City Royals for Jeff Martin, Jeff Granger, Joe Randa, and Jeff Wallace.16

Bell fit right into the Royals lineup and made an impression. As sportswriter Joe Posnanski predicted before the season, Kansas City fell in love with Bell’s steady playing style and consistent performance. Though he was not the centerpiece of the trade from Pittsburgh, Bell outperformed Jeff King in that 1997 season.17 By WAR, it was the second-best season of Bell’s career, save for his banner 1993 campaign.

While in Kansas City, Bell struck up a relationship with three-time All-Star Chili Davis. The two would stay late after the games at Kauffman Stadium and discuss their approaches to hitting. Bell became convinced to shift the dynamics of his swing and hit more for power. His one-year stint in Kansas City was the first time he hit 20 home runs in a season.

But Bell was not in Kansas City for long. Unlike his idol, George Brett, he stayed only one season, exiting for free agency at the end of the season.

While Bell was cementing his role as a solid shortstop and presence in the lineup, major-league baseball was considering expanding. After the successes of adding the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins, the league formed another expansion committee in 1994 to consider the 29th and 30th franchises. They considered four cities as finalists, ultimately deciding against Orlando and Northern Virginia in favor of launching the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks. With the new franchises now established, the teams needed talent to fill their rosters for their inaugural season.

The league set an expansion draft in November 1997, a structured opportunity for the two new teams to pluck unprotected players from existing rosters and field a new team. The day before the expansion draft, the news hit the wires: The Diamondbacks signed their first player in franchise history, Jay Bell, to a five-year, $34 million contract, announcing a willingness to invest in a veteran, dependable roster.

Expansion teams were expected to build a team slowly, enduring a period of losing seasons before cultivating their young talent into a division contender. Tampa Bay appeared to be taking this approach, but a gradual ramp-up was too slow for Diamondbacks CEO Jerry Colangelo. He said, “I think this signing of Jay Bell is indicative of our commitment to put a winning team on the field.”18

“Jerry Colangelo first made the comment when I got here that we were a team full of character, not a team full of characters,” Bell said later. “We had a group of guys who understood how to play the game. We played the game right.”19

Now in his 30s, Bell honored the commitment from the Diamondbacks by being a steady, veteran presence. He averaged 146 games a season in his first four years in Arizona.

It seems altogether fitting that Bell made his impact on the new squad not just as its first official player, but as a surprising mascot whisperer. Bell and his son, Brantley, are credited with envisioning the mascot, D. Baxter the Bobcat, for the Diamondbacks. Bell told the story:

“Our third year of marriage, I wasn’t making any money at the time and I forgot about [my wife’s] birthday. And on the way to pick her up that night I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I forgot her birthday!’ Now we had been at the mall the night before and stopped by the pet store and she liked the cats. And I had to do something. So I stopped at the mall on the way to pick her up and bought a cat for $20 and that was the start of us having cats around the house. So Brantley was a cat lover, and at that time Chase Field was called Bank One Ballpark, the BOB, so it takes a 5-year-old to put it all together and he said, ‘Dad it’s the BOB, and if it was a cat it could be a Bobcat.’ He didn’t have any idea at that time that bobcats were prevalent in Arizona. I told the front office about his idea, and they liked it.”20

The Diamondbacks benefited from Bell’s late-career increase in power hitting. He hit 38 home runs in 1999, driving in 112 runs. Others took notice, too, and voted Bell to his second All-Star team.

Bell’s discovered power stroke also led to perhaps the most expensive home run in history. On July 11, 1999, Arizona resident Gylene Hoyle won a radio contest that awarded her $1 million if she could correctly pick which player would hit a grand slam and in which inning he would hit it. Admittedly not a keen baseball analyst, she selected Bell due to his power-hitting season. She picked the sixth inning at random. Bettors placed the odds of her winning at 1 in 2,916.21 Daunting odds, and yet in the sixth inning, Bell strode to the plate with the bases loaded. He knew about the promotion and was sweating through the at-bat. “Got in the box for a 3-and-2 count,” Bell remembered, “And all of a sudden my legs started shaking and I step out of the box and regroup.”22 After fouling off a number of pitches, he lifted a ball over the fence and won Hoyle a million dollars.

The Diamondbacks, despite their status as new kids in the standings, were almost immediately successful. In just their second year as a franchise, they won 100 games en route to capturing the National League West Division championship. After finishing third in the NL West in 2000, the Diamondbacks were back on top of the division in 2001, ushering in a memorable playoff run.

The Diamondbacks defeated the wild-card winning St. Louis Cardinals, in five games before dispatching the Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series and sending the team to its first World Series.

Because of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the start of the World Series was delayed, resulting in the first World Series that was played in November. The Series was a see-saw affair, with the Diamondbacks battling the favored Yankees to a do-or-die Game Seven in Bank One Ballpark.

Bell had moved to a role coming off the bench in the second half of the 2001 season, yielding his middle-infielder spot to platooning Tony Womack and Craig Counsell. This was his first season playing fewer than 130 games since the strike-shortened season of 1994. During the World Series, Bell walked up to the plate only seven times. But his last plate appearance is emblazoned in Arizona lore, the sports equivalent of the O.K. Corral.

In the bottom of the ninth in Game Seven, the Yankees were leading 2-1. Yankees hurler and future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera was on the mound for his second inning of relief work. Bell strode up to the plate with runners on first and second and no outs. Bell was a bunting specialist and he had set modern records for sacrifice hits. His charge: Bunt both runners into scoring position, putting the winning run on second base.

Bell squared up on the first pitch and tapped a bunt into the infield. Scott Brosius, the New York third baseman, was not playing far off the bag and protected the force out. Bell could have drawn him in with a bunt down the line, clearing the basepath for the lead runner. Instead, his bunt bounced directly to Rivera, who tossed to third base for an easy out. The runners did not advance and the Diamondbacks gave up a costly out. They were two outs away from elimination.23

Bell ran “down to first base thinking that I just screwed up the World Series.”24

Womack, longtime teammate of Bell’s, came up next and ripped a double into right field, plating the lead runner and tying the game, 2-2. Bell moved to third base, only 90 feet away from a World Series ring. Counsell was hit by a pitch, loading the bases and sending the Arizona fans into a frenzy. Luis Gonzalez stepped into the batter’s box. “Gonzo” was a fan favorite and the crux of the Diamondbacks lineup, with a 174 OPS+ that season. Manager Bob Brenly could not have drawn up a more favorable matchup.

Gonzalez spun a high 0-and-1 pitch off the inside of his bat, lifting the ball to the edge of the infield. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was playing in on the dirt with the bases loaded and the force out at home plate, so he was not in position to snag the soft contact. The ball landed.

Bell ran toward home plate, arms raised in the air and his mouth open with jubilation. He clapped once, stomped home plate, and jumped into the arms of teammate Matt Williams. The two veterans had been with the Diamondbacks in the first week of the club’s existence. The Diamondbacks won their first World Series. Bell had his first and only World Series ring. The dependable infielder with the punchy bat became an instant legend in Arizona baseball history.

“Having the opportunity to score the winning run was extraordinary and totally something I will remember forever,” Bell said. “It was pretty iconic for this city. But that entire Game 7 was just incredible. … It was an incredible night. In my opinion, it was one of the all-time great baseball games.”25

Winning the Series was the zenith of Bell’s major-league playing days. His role had been reduced during that charmed 2001 season, ushering in the final chapter of a commendable career. “The second half of 2001 is when I stopped playing on a regular basis. That’s when the stats really started going downhill,” Bell remembered. “Nothing wrong with that. I don’t have any problem with where I was at in my career. As a matter of fact, it was probably just a nice little transition for me to get out of the game. Or to get out from a playing aspect.”26

Bell played two more seasons, one with the Diamondbacks and a coda with the New York Mets. He injured his hamstring during the 2002 season, putting him on the disabled list for the first time in his 17 seasons. Bell signed as a free agent with the Mets and played 72 games in his final season. He hit below .200 in his last two seasons and was shuttled around the infield, playing all the positions as a backup.

Bell took his final professional at-bat against Florida Marlins’ Braden Looper on September 28, 2003, in Miami.

“It was a 3-and-0 pitch. I wanted to hit a homer. I wanted to do the first and last at-bat,” Bell remembered. “I got a standing ‘O’ from the opposing dugout, so it was a cool moment. It really was. But I knew that was my last at-bat. I was ready. It was a nice little fly ball to left field. I was afraid that if I hit a homer I would’ve thought I could still play.”27

While his days of donning a glove and trotting out on the field were over, Bell was not done wearing a uniform. Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin hired him as bench coach for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Taking a few years away from professional baseball, Bell returned to the Diamondbacks organization as the hitting coach for the Double-A Mobile BayBears in 2012. The next season, he returned to the Pirates organization as their bench coach, and then he moved to the Cincinnati Reds as their bench coach for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. In 2017 he got his chance at managing in the Yankees organization and spent three seasons leading farm teams Tampa Yankees, Trenton, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In 2019 Bell was announced as the inaugural manager for the Rocket City Trash Pandas, Double-A in the Los Angeles Angels organization. The 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the organization launched in 2021 with Bell at the helm. He stayed for one season before hanging up his spikes for good and returning to his Arizona home.

Reflecting on his career, Bell acknowledged the selfish nature of the game, driven by commerce and a pervasive need to prove oneself. Still, he relied on his faith to rise above the less admirable parts of the business. “One of the things God taught me was you need to be less self-consumed,” Bell said. “You need to consider others higher than yourself. That’s really what it comes down to. And being a Christ-like example. That’s what I want to be. What I learned was that if I could just look at other guys and just kind of build up other guys who were struggling, or continue to build up a guy who was really doing great, I wouldn’t think about myself and I would enjoy the game, good or bad. And it took a lot of pressure off me.”28

Bell baseball legacy was carried on by two of his sons. Brantley Bell was drafted as an infielder by the Cincinnati Reds in the 11th round of the 2015 draft. As of 2024, he was playing for the Chicago Dogs in the independent American Association. Brock Bell was drafted as a pitcher by the Boston Red Sox in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. As of 2024, he was playing for the Dayton Dragons, the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.

“Just to be a part of the baseball community, with so few people who have actually played in the major leagues,” Jay Bell said, “it’s something that you recognize was a privilege.”29

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com for season-by-season and game-by-game details of Jay Bell’s performance.

Notes

1 Paul Hoynes. “Bell Gets Tribe Call,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 30, 1986: C-3.

2 Ed Eagle, “Players with Home Run in First At-Bat,” MLB.com, June 26, 2024. https://www.mlb.com/news/home-run-in-first-at-bat-c265623820, accessed July 7, 2024.

3 Associated Press, “Blyleven Sets Dubious Record,” Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) Times, September 30, 1986: 14.

4 Tom Scocca, “How a Career Ends: Jay Bell Homered Off a Hall of Famer in His First At-Bat, Flied Out in His Last,” Deadspin, https://deadspin.com/how-a-career-ends-jay-bell-homered-off-a-hall-of-famer-5948191/, accessed May 21, 2024.

5 Paul Hoynes, “Tribe Hits 3 Homers, but Falls to Twins,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 30, 1086: C-1.

6 Craig Muder, “Jay Bell and Cooperstown Are Old Friends,” Baseball Hall of Fame Online, https://baseballhall.org/discover/jay-bell-and-cooperstown-are-old-friends, accessed May 19, 2024.

7 Dan Shugart, “Tate High School Celebrates 40-Year Reunion of 1984 National Championship Baseball Team,” WEAR News 3, https://weartv.com/sports/high-school/tate-high-school-celebrates-40-year-reunion-of-1984-national-championship-baseball-team, accessed May 20, 2024.

8 “Blyleven Sets Dubious Record.”

9 “Jay Bell and Cooperstown Are Old Friends.”

10 “92 NLCS, Gm 7 PIT@ATL: Bream Beats Bonds’ Throw,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgjIVvEQo_o, accessed May 25, 2024.

11 Associated Press, “Hope Springs Eternal for Pirates in 1993,” Titusville (Pennsylvania) Herald, February 11, 1993: 10.

12 Associated Press, “Bell Will Remain No. 2 in Bucs’ Batting Order,” Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, March 12, 1993: 13.

13 Rick Starr, “Bell Joins NL’s Best,” North Hills (Pennsylvania) News Record, July 9, 1993: 19.

14 Ben Walker, “NL Picks Gold Glove Winners for 1992-’93,” Gettysburg Times, November 17, 1993: B-1.

15 Kevin Roberts, “Bell Ends Ozzie’s Reign by Winning First Gold Glove,” North Hills News Record, November 17, 1993: B-4.

16 Associated Press, “Pirates Trade Bell, King to Royals,” Kokomo (Indiana) Tribune, December 14, 1996: C-5.

17 Joe Posnanski, “Royals Fans Will Fall for Steady Bell,” Salina (Kansas) Journal, April 9, 1997: D-3.

18 Associated Press, “Diamondbacks Jump Gun, Sign Jay Bell,” Kokomo Tribune, November 18, 1997: B-3.

19 Mike Puma, “Jay Bell Says Diamondbacks ‘Character’ Emulating 2001 World Series Champs,” New York Post, https://nypost.com/2023/10/29/sports/diamondbacks-character-emulating-2001-world-series-champs/, accessed May 25, 2024.

20 Steve Gilbert, “Jay Bell Talks Birthdays, Mascots, Trash Pandas,” MLB.com, April 29, 2020, accessed May 25, 2024.

21 Ryan Hockensmith, “The $1 Million Shot That Changed Sports Contests Forever,” ESPN, https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/36146138/million-dollar-shot-michael-jordan-chicago-bulls-1993, accessed May 25, 2024.

22 Kyle Franko, “Thunder Manager Jay Bell Recalls His Million Dollar Swing,” Trentonian (Trenton, New Jersey), July 12, 2018, https://www.trentonian.com/2018/07/12/thunder-manager-jay-bell-recalls-his-million-dollar-swing-on-its-19th-anniversary/, accessed May 30, 2024.

23 “Game 7 of 2001 World Series,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-hbjI81M8I, accessed May 25, 2024.

24 Scocca, “How a Career Ends: Jay Bell Homered Off a Hall of Famer in His First At-Bat, Flied Out in His Last.”

25 Puma, “Jay Bell Says Diamondbacks ‘Character’ Emulating 2001 World Series Champs.”

26 Scocca.

27 Scocca.

28 Scocca.

29 Muder, “Jay Bell and Cooperstown Are Old Friends.”