AllTime AllStars - Cool Papa Bell

By Matt Phillips
February 3 2003

Shine a light into baseball's illustrious past and you'll find a star that shines just as brightly as Big Mac, A-Rod, Griffey Jnr and Slammin Sammy.

Cool Papa Bell, without doubt, the fastest player ever to grace America's hallowed diamond.

So fast infact that he once ran the bases in an amazing 12 seconds, a feat that seems tame in comparison to the other stories that pepper Papa's past.

It's hard to ascertain fact from fiction. The tale of Papa switching off the bedroom light and jumping into bed before the room turned dark is almost certainly stretching the myth to breaking point. But stories such as reaching third on a bunt and scoring from second on a sacrifice fly are most definitely true.

Standing at 5ft 11" and playing out of Centre Field, Papa threw left handed. A mediocre arm by all accounts, but one that commanded a fantastically quick release.

A switch hitter at the plate, Bell compensated for his lack of power with his phenomenal speed, recording a .341 lifetime average. Papa was truly the master at beating out a throw.

In exhibition games against Major Leaguers he went even further, punishing some of the game's greatest pitchers with an average of .391.

On the base paths was where Bell really excelled and is where he put his speed to devastating use, stealing 175 bases in under 200 games.

Voted to every East-West All Star game between 1933 and 1944, Papa was eventually voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 at the age of 69.

Papa spent his whole 24 year career in the Negro Leagues, debuting at St Louis Stars before moving on to the Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago American Giants, Pittsburgh Crawfords and finally the Homestead Grays.

Cool Papa Bell, an unforgettable name and a career that will never be forgotten.