George Bell

Note: This page links to George Bell, the 1987 American League MVP. For George Bell who played from 1907 to 1911, click here.

George Antonio Bell Mathey
(Liberty)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 190 lb.

• Debut April 9, 1981
• Final Game October 2, 1993
• Born October 21, 1959 in San Pedro de Macoris, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

Bell with Toronto.

George Bell played twelve seasons in the majors, hitting 265 home runs with a .278 batting average. He did this largely before the 1993 expansion, when home runs were harder to hit. In his best year, with the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays, he won the MVP Award. He also had two other seasons when he finished fourth in the MVP voting, in 1986 and 1989. Bell's 47 homers in 1987 were a Blue Jays record until Jose Bautista broke it in 2010. His 202 career homers for the Jays were also a team record, but he was overtaken by Bautista again, in 2014.

Bell was born in the famous cradle of ballplayers, San Pedro de Macoris, in the Dominican Republic. He was originally signed by the Philadelphia Phillies and played three seasons in their minor league organization before they let him get away - George was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Phillies in the 1980 Rule V Draft.

He was part of the Toronto B's outfield of the mid-1980s, along with Jesse Barfield and Lloyd Moseby. After hitting three homers off Bret Saberhagen on Opening Day 1988, he was on pace to hit 486 home runs for the season; he was the first batter with a trifecta on Opening Day, soon followed by Tuffy Rhodes. On May 28, 1989, he gave Exhibition Stadium an appropriate send-off when he hit a walk-off home run against Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox with Kelly Gruber on base in the bottom of the 10th inning, to give Toronto a 7-5 win. The Blue Jays moved into the SkyDome at the start of their next homestand.

Following a one-year stint with the Chicago Cubs in 1991, Bell was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Sammy Sosa. His ability deteriorated rather quickly. In both 1991 and 1992, he hit 25 home runs. At the start of the 1993 season (an expansion season when hitting increased noticeably in the league), he was batting clean-up for a White Sox team that went on to win a division title with 94 victories. Frank Thomas, who batted third that season, won the MVP Award. Bell, in 410 at-bats, hit .217 with 13 home runs. He did not appear in postseason play, and was released in October. The White Sox replaced his bat with that of Julio Franco in 1994, and went on to lead the division again, although the season ended early because of the 1994 strike. Bell was done at the age of 34. Similarity scores show that similar players include Ben Oglivie, Raul Mondesi and Eric Karros.

George was a roving minor league hitting coach for the Blue Jays in the 2000s. By 2013, he was a consultant for the Jays. That year, Bell was voted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame with fellow 1980s-1990s outfielders Tim Raines and Rob Ducey, as well as two off-the-field personalities, announcer Tom Cheek and executive Nat Bailey. George is also a member of the Toronto Blue Jays Level of Excellence.

He is the brother of the late Juan Bell and minor leaguer Rolando Bell.

Notable Achievements

• 3-time All-Star (1987, 1990 & 1991)
• AL MVP (1987)
• 3-time AL Silver Slugger Award Winner (1985-1987)
• AL Total Bases Leader (1987)
• AL RBI Leader (1987)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 8 (1984-1988 & 1990-1992)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 2 (1986 & 1987)
• 40-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1987)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 4 (1986, 1987, 1989 & 1992)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (1986 & 1987)

AL MVP
1986	1987	1988
Roger Clemens	George Bell	Jose Canseco

Quotes

• "George simply hates to lose. Sometimes you wonder what he's doing and sometimes he may try too hard, but he plays to win. And he plays - bad knees, bad shoulder, whatever." - John McLaren

Further Reading

• George Bell and Bob Elliott: Hardball, Key Porter Books, Toronto, ON, 1990. ISBN 1550132652

Related Sites

• George Bell at the SABR Bio Project