Jay Bell
Jay Stuart Bell (b.
December 11,
1965 in
Eglin AFB, Florida) is a
Major League Baseball shortstop/
second baseman and right-handed batter who played for the
Cleveland Indians (1986-88),
Pittsburgh Pirates (1989-96),
Kansas City Royals (1997),
Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-2002) and
New York Mets (2003).
Bell maintained his reputation as one of the best shortstops in the 1990s. His range was only average but he had a great knowledge of the hitters and positioned himself well. Originally a first-round pick of the
Minnesota Twins in
1984, Bell made 129 errors over his first three minor-league seasons. The following year he was traded to the Indians in a deal that brought
starter Bert Blyleven to Minnesota, and when he finally reached the majors in 1986 he faced Blyleven in his first major-league at-bat. Bell promptly ripped the first pitch he saw for a
home run, the 50th allowed by Blyleven in the season: a MLB record that's still intact.
Bell won a
Gold Glove Award award in
1993, breaking a string of thirteen straight
National League Gold Gloves at
shortstop by
Ozzie Smith.
Though mostly a singles and doubles hitter at first, Bell was also an expert at bunting. Bell did show early signs of his power potential hitting 21 home runs in 1997 and 20 in 1998. A trial switch to second base at end of the '98 season became a permanent move the next spring. Bell belted 36 of his 38 homers from his new position, a total exceeded only by
Rogers Hornsby,
Davey Johnson and
Ryne Sandberg among second basemen. One of those round-trippers, was a sixth-inning
grand slam off the
Oakland Athletics pitcher Jimmy Haynes on the final game before the
All-Star break, that won $1 million for an Arizona fan who had correctly predicted the batter and the inning for a bases-loaded blast.
In 2001, Bell scored the winning run for the
Diamondbacks in Game 7 of the
World Series against the
New York Yankees.
In his career, Bell batted for .265, with 195 home runs, 868 runs batted in, 1123
runs scored, 394
doubles, 67
triples and 91
stolen bases. He also won the
Gold Glove award in
1993 and was selected to the All-Star game the same year and in
1999.
Jay Bell currently assists
Bob Melvin as bench coach of the
Arizona Diamondbacks.
*
Career statistics at Baseball Reference
