Bats: R Throws: R. Height: 6'1" Weight: 180. Send. Here are some key points to know about Bell, who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. "James 'Cool Papa' Bell of the St. Louis Stars, the fastest man ever to play baseball. Satchel Paige was talking about James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell, one of the greatest players in Negro Leagues history, and by all accounts, the fastest. MLB's decision means that the statistics of Negro League greats such as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell and nearly 3,400 other players will be accorded major league . Tells the forgotten story of Black star-quality athletes excluded from professional baseball because of the big league's color line Recently promoted to AAA, he may be a name to pay attention to. There is no official record of Negro Leagues Baseball statistics. • At some point in his career, Bell learned to switch-hit, originally listed as a right-handed batter but later hitting from the left side, which meant he’d only be faster to first base by being closer to the bag out of the left-hand batter’s box. "James "Cool Papa" Bell". Cuyler played 139 games that season. As the founder and lead researcher of the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, . This is a big deal. In doing so, I will be avoiding spoilers, as Homer wanted to hear the story as it unfolded. Bryan Buxton holds the Statcast record for an inside-the-park home run at 13.85 seconds, so Bells time seems not only well documented (on the technology of the era) but plausible. Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, storyteller, commentator, voice - delves into the language of the national pastime: from Vin Scully's philosophy on no-hitters to Red Barber's classic turns of phrase to a definitive listing of broadcasters' ... EVER THE . Easterling played a handful of games in the California Winter League, prior to his World War II … Found inside â Page 18Name players included Cool Papa Bell, Willie Wells, Mule Suttles, and Logan Hensley. Stars won 3 pennants. Much of the information above was provided by seamheads.com and baseball-reference.com. Quotes: Baseball's Greatest Quotations, ... He also hit .391 in exhibitions against all-white teams through the years. Share. Died: 1/23/2015 Chicago, IL. Follow the games, learn about the players, expand your knowledge of a once forgotten time in American Baseball History. His wOBA was .622. A powerful, provocative, and unforgettable American epic follows the history of "the soul of our national game" (Ken Burns, coauthor of "Baseball"). Includes complete Hall of Fame information and two 8-page inserts of period photos. Cool Papa often went from first to third on bunts and scored from second on sacrifice flies. The Negro National and American League were still populated with some of the all-time greats, like Bell, Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson, who had grown old while white baseball shut them out. ISBN 0814325823. HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel has hit on . James "Cool Papa" Bell; Center fielder: Ipinanganak: Mayo 17, 1903 Starkville, Mississippi: In that admittedly small sample, he batted .378. There was plenty of reason to be concerned about the impact of waiting a year when it came to the . Pos: SS. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. Art by Graig Kreindler. We know Gibson's Negro League teams played 1,301 league games during Gibson's career (1930-1946). "He made his living by throwing the ball to a spot over the plate the size of a matchbook. They’ve not only compiled the raw numbers from various leagues in the US and Latin America, not to mention exhibition games against white major league teams, they’ve crunched them into many of the more advanced stats. A custom fantasy league played using the 108 card All-Star Negro League set from Strat-o-Matic. 8) Cool Papa Bell. Alternate History OOTP features different ways to recreate history, including an "on rails" experience that uses historical transactions, such as trades and injuries, and lineups to produce a result very similar to what actually happened. In fact, he may … Of the statues that stand outside of Busch Stadium, one remains shrouded in mystery and legend. You could conjecture that figure includes barnstorming and exhibition games, but the Seamheads.com database actually does a very good job of including these as well. All, baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=bell–001coo, americanheritage.com/how-score-first-sacrifice, medium.com/joeblogs/99-cool-papa-bell-ef4d0c4d8bf5. Pin. Offering a fresh approach to the familiar concept of all-time baseball teams, this exhaustive work ranks more than 2,500 players by state of birth and includes both major league and Negro League athletes. Ashwill and many, many others have documented the statistical records of the Negro Leagues. But to see their names now said in the same breath, with their stats occupying the same lists, as the recognized MLB stars does my heart good. This text opens with a brief history of Mexican professional baseball and provides, in both English and Spanish, statistical information on the players of the Mexican Baseball League since 1937 (the first year in which the league kept ... Baseball Reference, a Sports Reference website that serves as a complete source for . From 1933 to 1936 … On this day in 1991, Cool Papa Bell passed away in St. Louis, Missouri, at the age of 87. 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. Complete source for baseball history including complete major league player, team, and league stats, awards, records, leaders, rookies and scores. "Age is a question of mind over matter," Paige said. Among many legendary accounts, he once stole 175 bases in a 200-game season and was able to round the bases in 12 seconds flat. For many decades, Black players could not play in Major League Baseball due to an unofficial "color line . Shields also pitched for the Homestead Grays during their 1943 Negro World Series championship season . 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. That Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, . Gibson's official home run total is limited by the box scores that have been discovered by Negro Leagues historians. While James "Cool Papa" Bell is one of the most famous Negro League players, Willie Wells was by all accounts an even … More likely than not, it’s simply an exaggeration. James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 - March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946.He is considered to have … But there’s also something reductionist about them. The 1943 Homestead Grays, featuring 5 Hall of Famers: Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, Ray Brown, Buck Leonard, and Jud Wilson. According to the website Seamheads.com, which has been the definitive Negro Leagues stats source online, 17 hits are attributed to Mays in 1948. . Details statistics from American professional baseball teams and players from 1900 through the previous season, including draft information, lists of award winners and world champion teams, career records, Negro League statistics, and facts ... The expert baseball historians over at Seamheads have meticulously combed records and added their statistics to the Negro Leagues Database. 2. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. He is considered to have … James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 - March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946. 1974: Cool Papa Bell 1975: Judy Johnson 1976: Oscar Charleston 1977: Martin Dihigo and Pop Lloyd. Re-create, re-imagine history with Negro Leagues feature in 'OOTP Baseball 18'. In the relatively few records of Bell speaking about his achievements in his own words, when he is asked about the legends like scoring from first on a bunt he consistently points to intelligence rather than raw speed as what gave him the edge. Charles Thomas Shields (October 20, 1922 - October 18, 1955) was an American Negro league pitcher in the 1940s.. A native of Whipple, West Virginia, Shields made his Negro leagues debut in 1941 with the New York Cubans and Chicago American Giants.He remained with Chicago in 1942 and 1943. In fact, he may … Found inside â Page 103We will never know for certain how fast Cool Papa Bell really was. ... The tenacious and dogged baseball historians at the Seamheads website have uncovered 345 Cool Papa stolen bases in almost 1,500 games, which is certainly good but ... The other thing that the statistical record does for Bell is to show us that beyond the legends - which focus almost exclusively on his speed - he was an excellent hitter... not to mention a decent pitcher during his first three seasons, when the knuckleballer posted a 107 ERA+ in 308 innings. He joined the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League two years later, and garnered his nickname as a pitcher. MLB's decision means that the statistics of Negro League greats such as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell and nearly 3,400 other players … With an arsenal featuring curveballs, knuckleballs and screwballs that he could throw from three different release points, Bell was simply calm and cool out on the mound even amid stressful situations. Baseball Reference Expands to Include Negro Leagues. Photos of Sam Jethroe, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Luke Easter, and Cool Papa Bell (from . "This is the story of the lost era between the Babe and Jackie, of a crusading journalist named Sam Lacy, an immensely talented black ballplayer named Buck Leonard, and a stubborn major league owner named Clark Griffith. In 1929 and '32, he also had brief stints with the Chicago American Giants. In other words, Bell was old school even for the 1920s. So... what do these numbers tell us? He then joined the star-studded Pittsburgh Crawfords in '33 and played alongside legends Josh Gibson and Paige. As Bell aged and his arthritic body became less able to run, he actually became a much better hitter. The year was 1946, and it was already understood that Jackie Robinson would be breaking the color barrier the next season. For more than 60 years the Sol White Guide remained the only work devoted to black baseball history. Without White's vision, much of the information and images in the book would be lost forever. for a while Negro Leagues players … Cool Papa Bell James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 - March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946. They've counted 238 home runs for Josh Gibson, a . June 15, 2021. The foremost historian of the "blackball" era spent nearly 10 years researching this acclaimed oral history, interviewing 17 outstanding players including Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard, and Willie Wells. Over 80 vintage photographs. No one has said anything yet, so I'll get a post started. (National Baseball Hall of Fame) 5 / 11. Midwest 6 Negro League. Seamheads hasn't stopped at standard "back-of-the-card" stats either. Those leagues combined to produce 35 Hall of Famers, meaning legends such as Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and Oscar Charleston now will be considered Major Leaguers … We don’t need fables of Rickey Henderson Plus totals to see that Bell was a superlative base stealer, within the context of his era. Players such as Gibson, Charleston, James "Cool Papa" Bell, Martín Dihigo, Judy Johnson and Willie Wells — all inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. — routinely bested white stars in barnstorming games or in Latin American winter leagues, where teams were integrated. Ray Dandridge, and … Bell played just 102. According to Seamheads's NLB database, Bell had 199 steals and a .389 … • Bell was born in Starkville, Miss., on May 17,1903. Again by the Seamheads data, he had a 170 ERA+ in over 1500 innings. The 1943 Negro League champion Homestead Grays team picture, featuring 5 HOFers: Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell, Ray Brown, and Jud Wilson. Pin. Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe told author James Riley. That includes highlights like going 3 for 5 against Bob Feller in 1936. "Teddy Ballgame makes Four years later, he became the fifth Negro Leagues player elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. “This comes mainly from two sources: 1) a basic unawareness (completely understandable) of the nature of baseball journalism, particularly the box score, in the earlier twentieth century; and 2) the legend of the Negro Leagues, which paints them as half-mythical enterprises that took place mostly in the realm of tall tales.”. He would die tragically that January. . That means Negro League stars such as Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston and James "Cool Papa" Bell — all of whom were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in the 1970s . The biography of Oscar Charleston, a Negro Leagues legend and one of baseballâs greatest and most unjustifiably overlooked players. Paige, and Cool Papa Bell leading them to be the dominant team in the league's first four years. James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 - March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946. 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords, Cronkite School at ASU Found insideIn Ted Strong Jr.: The Untold Story of an Original Harlem Globetrotter and Negro Leagues All-Star, Sherman L. Jenkins finally shares the fascinating story of this star athlete. Even "Cool Papa" Bell, a switch-hitting outfielder who batted .325 and stole a record 300 bases in 21 seasons, started his career as a left-handed knuckleball pitcher, throwing 153 2/3 innings . First off, Bell only twice played more than 100 games in a season. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Found insideDespite the fact that the fleet center fielder was now in his forties, Cool Papa Bell wasn't slowing down. ... 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