Cool Papa Bell

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baseball player

Personal Information

Born James Thomas Nichols on May 17, 1901 in Starkville, MS; son of Mary Nichols and Jonas Bell (a sharecropper); died on March 7, 1991, in St. Louis, MO; married Clara Belle Thompson, 1928 (died 1991); children: Connie Bell Brooks.

Career

Signed with the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League as a pitcher, 1922; became the club's center fielder and leadoff hitter, 1923-31; played for the Detroit Wolves and the Kansas City Monarchs, 1932; Pittsburgh Crawfords, 1933-36; played in the Dominican Republic for President Rafael Trujillo's team, 1937; played in the Mexican League for Tampico, Torreon, Vera Cruz, and Monterrey, 1938-41; Chicago American Giants, 1942; Homestead Grays, 1943-46; coached Kansas City Monarchs' top farm team, 1948-50; returned to St. Louis and worked as a night watchman and custodian until retirement, 1973.

Life's Work

One of the most legendary of all the Negro League baseball players, James "Cool Papa" Bell played centerfield and batted lead off for three great black baseball dynasties--the St. Louis Stars in the late-1920s, the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the 1930s, and the Homestead Grays in the 1940s. What most set Bell apart from the rest of the players of his era was his speed. Negro League legend and storyteller extraordinaire Satchel Paige was perhaps most responsible for Bell's legend. When the two were roommates with the Crawfords, Paige said that Bell could turn out the light and be in bed before it got dark. He said that once Bell hit a single up the middle, but was called out because the ball hit him in the back as he was sliding into second.

Bell was born James Thomas Nichols on May 17, 1901, near Starkville, Mississippi. He grew up in a farming community with his two sisters and five brothers. His father, Jonas Bell, was a sharecropper. Bell attended school until the seventh grade. He then moved to St. Louis, where it was easier to make a living and where he could live with some of his brothers. Bell also joined his brothers to play baseball. His first semi-pro team was called the Compton Hill Cubs. At the age of 20, Bell stood five-feet-eleven inches and weighed only 145 pounds. He played centerfield and was a solid hitter, but he was more known as a knuckleball pitcher. In 1922 Bell worked at the Independent Packing Company for $21.20 a week and earned $20 a week to pitch on Sundays. That spring Bell tried out for the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League. He made the team and received a healthy salary increase to $90 a week.

Earned Famous Nickname

Bell earned his famous nickname "Cool Papa" for two parts of his personality. "Cool" came after the youngster struck out Negro League Hall of Famer Oscar Charleston late in a game when his teammates thought he would be too scared even to throw the ball near the strike zone. Stars manager Bill Gatewood added "Papa" because of Bell's maturity. He began to play centerfield more often, a move that allowed him to take advantage of his unmatched speed, quick bat, and his sure fielding glove. Gatewood eventually persuaded him to give up pitching completely and to become a switch hitter. Though he had a mediocre arm, he was so fast that he could play very shallow in the outfield to make up for this deficiency.

But Bell really made his mark on the basepaths. Every time he got on base he would automatically steal second and usually third. If a teammate got a hit while Bell was on base, he would score. In 1948, at the age of 46, Bell is said to have scored from first on a sacrifice bunt during an exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians.

During his time with the Stars, Bell's legend had only begun to grow and Bell's blazing speed changed the game. Opposing managers usually brought the infield in so that they would have a chance to throw him out on an infield hit. Bell explained the effect he had on a game in Shaun McCormack's book Cool Papa Bell: "We played a different kind of baseball than the white teams. We played tricky baseball. We did things they didn't expect. We'd bunt and run in the first inning. Then when they would come in for a bunt we'd hit away. We always crossed them up. We'd run the bases hard and make the fielders throw too quick and make wild throws. We'd fake a steal home and rattle the pitcher into a balk."

It was said that if Bell hit a ball that took two hops in the infield, he was almost always safe. Legend has it that Jackie Robinson switched from shortstop to second base because he could not throw Bell out. Though it is impossible to accurately reconstruct all of Bell's accomplishments, his statistics survive from a 1940 season playing for Torreon of the Mexican League. In 89 games Bell led the league in runs (119), hits (167), triples (15), home runs (12 ), and runs batted in (79).

All in all, Bell spent ten years with the Stars. When the team added Willie Wells at shortstop and Mule Suttles at first base, St. Louis became a Negro National League power challenging the Kansas City Monarchs and winning the league championship in 1928, 1929, and 1930. The St. Louis Stars were swept away by the Depression in 1931. Bell moved on to the Detroit Wolves, but that team was also pulled under by the horrible economic conditions.

Bell married Clara Belle Thompson in 1928, the woman with whom he would spend the next 62 years of his life. The two honeymooned in Cuba, where Bell began the first of four winters playing baseball there. In his first season he became the first player to hit three home runs in one game and led the league in home runs and stolen bases.

Played for Dominican Dictator's Team

In 1933 Bell moved to another Negro League power--the Pittsburgh Crawfords. The team already featured four future Hall of Famers--Satchel Paige, Judy Johnson, Oscar Charleston, and Josh Gibson. With Bell leading off, the team won championships in 1933, 1935, and 1936. In 1937 Bell followed his teammate Paige and seven other Crawfords in a journey south of the border to play in the Dominican Republic as members of President Rafael Trujillo's team. Negro League players often played outside the United States because the pay was better and the living conditions were better for blacks in Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.

Despite the increase in salary, playing for the Dominican dictator had its drawbacks. The Crawfords were under guard when they were not playing baseball, and Trujillo threatened to have them shot if they did not win the championship--win they did. The club also played in the international Denver Post Tournament, during which Bell hit .450 and stole 11 bases in 13 games. The Forgotten Leagues website reports that a Denver Post sports editor wrote: "All these years I've been looking for a player who could steal first base. I've found my man: his name is Cool Papa Bell."

Bell started the 1938 season with the Crawfords in Pittsburgh but then went to play in Mexico until 1941. He played with Tampico, Torreon, Vera Cruz, and Monterrey and earned $450 a month, $200 more a month than the brightest stars of the Negro Leagues would earn. Bell came back to the United States in 1942 to play for the Chicago American Giants, but then he got a better offer and joined the Negro League's last great dynasty--the Homestead Grays. The team captured three consecutive league crowns and beat the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro League World Series in 1943 and 1944. In 1945 the Grays lost the series to the Cleveland Buckeyes.

Bell played baseball until the age of 45 and retired after 24 years in the game. He participated in every East-West all-star game from 1933 to 1944, except for the years he was playing ball in Mexico. Bell hit .400 over the course of several seasons and estimates of his lifetime batting average range from .345 to .391.

Coached Kansas City Farm Team

In 1948 Bell coached the Kansas City Monarch farm team, tutoring such future major league stars as Ernie Banks and Elston Howard. Bell was also offered another job as a player for the St. Louis Browns, the major league franchise who employed a one armed player and once sent a dwarf up to bat in order to draw a walk. Though it had been his dream to play major league baseball, he realized that he was too old to compete at the level he would like to, and he did not want to be just another attraction.

After two years in Kansas City, Bell moved back to St. Louis and got a job as a custodian at the St. Louis City Hall. He worked the next 21 years there before retiring from his night watchman position in 1973. One year later Bell became the fifth Negro League player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His street was also renamed James Cool Papa Bell Avenue. In 1991 Bell's wife, Clara, died. Just one month later, Bell himself entered the hospital after a heart attack. He died on March 7, 1991 at the age of 89.

After his death he was honored as a true American sports icon in 1996 when he appeared on a box of Wheaties to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. His daughter, Connie Bell Brooks, told Ed Barmakian of The Star-Ledger that the recognition was for many more players than just her father: "If Pop were alive, I know he would say that even though he's on the box, he's representing all men who played in the Negro Leagues. I hope that all those who see Pop on the box will feel included." Despite the fact that he received little recognition and less money to play the game as one of the best ever, Bell was never bitter about his lot in life. In McCormack's biography Bell gave thanks for his time in the Negro Leagues: "Because of baseball, I smelled the rose of life. I wanted to meet people, to travel, and to have nice clothes. Baseball allowed me to do all those things, and most important, during my time with the Crawfords, it allowed me to become a member of a brotherhood of friendship which will last forever."

Awards

Played in every East-West all-star game except for the years he was playing out of the country, 1933-44; elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1974.

Further Reading

Books

• McCormack, Shaun, Cool Papa Bell, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2002.

• The Star-Ledger, February 17, 1996.

• The Forgotten Leagues, www.theforgottenleagues.com/coolpapabell.htm
• www.ericenders.com/coolpapa.htm
• www.execpc.com/~sshivers/bell.html

— Michael J. Watkins

Quotes:

"Fear is met and destroyed with courage."

For other persons named James Bell, see James Bell (disambiguation).

James "Cool Papa" Bell
Born: May 17, 1903(1903-05-17) Starkville, Mississippi
Died: March 7, 1991 (aged 87) St. Louis, Missouri
Bats: Switch	Throws: Left
Professional debut
Negro Leagues: 1922, St. Louis Stars
Teams
St. Louis Stars (1922-1931) Detroit Wolves (1932) Kansas City Monarchs (1932-1934) Santo Domingo (1937) Mexican League (1938-1941) Homestead Grays (1932, 1943-1946) Pittsburgh Crawfords (1933-1938) Memphis Red Sox (1942) Chicago American Giants (1942) Detroit Senators (1947) Kansas City Stars (1948-1950)
Career highlights and awards
Lifetime batting average: .337 (Negro Leagues)
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Inducted	1974

James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 – March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball, considered by many baseball observers to have been the fastest man ever to play the game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.

Contents 1 Early history 2 Stories and tales 3 Legacy 4 In popular culture 5 External links

Early history

James Thomas Nichols was born May 17th, 1903, in or near Starkville, Mississippi. The 1910 U.S. Census shows him as the fourth of seven children living with his widowed mother, Mary Nichols, in Sessums Township, just outside of Starkville. When and why he changed his name to "Bell" is unknown. He joined the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League as a pitcher in 1922. By 1924, he had become their starting center fielder, and was known as an adept batter and fielder, and the "fastest man in the league". After leading the Stars to league titles in 1928, 1930, and 1931, he moved to the Detroit Wolves of the East-West League when the Negro National League disbanded. Detroit soon folded, leaving Bell to bounce to the Kansas City Monarchs and the Mexican winter leagues until finding a home with the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the reorganized NNL. In Pittsburgh, he played alongside Ted Page and Jimmie Crutchfield to form what is considered by many to have been the best outfield in the Negro Leagues. Bell left the Crawfords in 1938 to return to Mexico, coming back to baseball in the United States in 1942 to play for the Homestead Grays, who won Negro League titles in 1942, 1943, and 1944 with his help. He last played for the semi-pro Detroit Senators in 1946. He coached for the Monarchs in the late 1940s, managing their barnstorming "B" team, scouting for the club, signing prospects, and teaching the ins and outs of the game to future major-league baseball greats Ernie Banks, Jackie Robinson, and Elston Howard, among others.

Stories and tales

Because of the opposition the Negro Leagues faced, and because of the lack of reliable press coverage of many of their games, no statistics can be given for Bell with any accuracy. What is undeniable is that Bell was considered to be one of the greats of his time by all the men he played with (including Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson). He is recorded as having fully rounded the bases in 12 seconds. [1] As Paige himself noted in his autobiography, Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, "If Cool Papa had known about colleges or if colleges had known about Cool Papa, Jesse Owens would have looked like he was walking."

Paige also liked to tell a tall tale referencing one hotel at which he and Bell stayed, in which there was a short delay between flipping the light switch off and the lights actually going off due to faulty wiring, sufficient for Bell to jump into bed in the interim. Leaving out the explanatory details, Paige liked to say that Bell was "so fast he can turn off the light and be in bed before the room gets dark!" Paige also joked of a time when facing Bell that the outfielder hit a line drive up the middle that went screaming past Paige's ear, and hit Bell in the buttocks as he was sliding into second base.

Many tales exist of "Cool Papa". For example, one claims that Bell scored from second base on a sacrifice fly. Another states that he went from first to third on a bunt, which is possible for a speedy runner if the fielded ball was thrown to first for the sure out and the first baseman, who rarely have strong throwing arms, was unable to make the long throw to third in time. More astonishing is the claim related in Ken Burns' Baseball that he once scored from first on a sacrifice bunt. In an exhibition game against white all-stars, Bell broke for second on a bunt and run, with Satchel Paige at the plate. By the time the ball reached Paige, Bell was almost to second and rounded the bag, seeing the third baseman had broken towards home to field the bunt. The catcher, Roy Partee of the Boston Red Sox, ran to third to cover the bag and an anticipated return throw from first. To his surprise, Bell rounded third and brushed by him on the way home; pitcher Murry Dickson of the St. Louis Cardinals had not thought to cover home with the catcher moving up the line, and Bell scored standing up. Another states that he stole two bases on a single pitch, which is difficult but feasible if a catcher making the throw to second made a mediocre throw and had a shortstop unable to catch the runner at third with a throw. There are many other, possibly exaggerated anecdotes about Bell, such as running a full trip around the bases in 11 seconds. Perhaps the most unlikely was that he was once called out for being hit by his own batted ball while trying to slide into second base.

Legacy

Statue of Cool Papa Bell outside Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.

"Cool Papa" Bell died in his home on Dickson Street in St. Louis, Missouri at age 87. In his honor, the city renamed Dickson Street as "James 'Cool Papa' Bell Avenue". He has also been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Also named for him is Cool Papa Bell Drive, the road leading into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson, of which he is a member. The Hall and Drive are adjacent to Smith-Wills Stadium, longtime home of the Jackson Generals of the Texas League, now home to the Jackson Senators of the independent Texas-Louisiana League.

In 1999, Cool Papa Bell was ranked 66th on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players, one of five players so honored who played all or most of his career in the Negro Leagues, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. John Holway in his book says that James finished in the Top 5 in stolen bases 9 times.

In popular culture

Bell was used in the 1999 mystery novel Hanging Curve by Troy Soos, which takes place in Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois in 1922 with major Ku Klux Klan activity.

He was also noted in the 1994 movie Cobb, in which Ty Cobb, played by Tommy Lee Jones, is chided for being a lesser player than Bell.

He was recognized in an episode of The Proud Family, known as Cool Papa Mack.

External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame – Member biography
• BaseballLibrary - profile
• April 6, 1970 transcript of interview at Western Historical Manuscript Collection - University of Missouri-St. Louis
• The Deadball Era
• Negro Leagues Baseball Blog
• Grave Site at Find-A-Grave

v • d • e Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1974 BBWAA Vote Whitey Ford (77.81%) • Mickey Mantle (88.22%) Veterans Committee Jim Bottomley • Jocko Conlan • Sam Thompson Negro League Committee Cool Papa Bell J. G. Taylor Spink Award Warren Brown • John Drebinger • John F. Kieran

v • d • e Outfielders in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Aaron • Ashburn • Averill • Bell • Brock • Brown • Burkett • Carey • Charleston • Clarke • Clemente • Cobb • Combs • Crawford • Cuyler • Delahanty • DiMaggio • Doby • Duffy • Flick • Goslin • Gwynn • Hafey • Hamilton • Heilmann • Henderson • Hill • Hooper • Irvin • Jackson • Kaline • Keeler • Kelley • Kelly • Kiner • Klein • Mantle • Manush • Mays • McCarthy • Medwick • Musial • O'Rourke • Ott • Puckett • J. Rice • S. Rice • Robinson • Roush • Ruth • Simmons • Slaughter • Snider • Speaker • Stargell • Stearnes • Thompson • Torriente • L. Waner • P. Waner • Wheat • B. Williams • T. Williams • Wilson • Winfield • Yastrzemski • Youngs

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