COOL PAPA BELL

James Thomas "Cool Papa” Bell was the fastest player of his time, or probably any time. Satchel Paige said he once gave up a line drive up the middle to Bell and then quickly turned to see the ball hit Cool Papa in the butt as he slid into second base. One of the most illustrious players in Negro Leagues baseball history, he was one of six future Hall of Famers who played with the 1936 Pittsburgh Crawfords of the Negro National League. An unselfish man, Bell deliberately forfeited the Negro National League batting title to Monte Irvin in 1946 to increase Irvin’s chances to follow Jackie Robinson into the majors. 

G1202 AB4767 R1152 H1548 2B262 3B72 HR57 RBI596 AVE.325

Images courtesy of Dick Perez