Top Blue Jays Player #1: George Bell
Position: Left
Field
Seasons With the
Jays: 9 (1981, 1983-1990)
MLB Awards: American
League Most Valuable Player (1987)
Silver Slugger (1985, 1986, 1987)
All-Star Game
Selection: 1987, 1990
Stats: Games Played 1181 Batting
Average .286
Base Hits 1294 Runs
Scored 641
Home Runs 202 RBIs 740
Doubles
237 Triples 32
Stolen Bases 59
Walks 255
George Bell was not the most
talented player the Jays ever had. He was not the best slugger, either. Nor was
he the best defensive player in team history. So what makes him the greatest
Blue Jays’ player of all time? It was a combination of tenacity,
competitiveness, leadership and his desire to be the best he could be while
bringing out the best in the teammates around him.
Labelled a “hot-head” by many, his
moody disposition and temper could get him in trouble with the media and fans
alike. But they would be quickly won over again with a clutch hit, a long home
run or a surprising defensive play. Bell was the type of player that fans could
both hate and love at the same time. And there is no doubt that he was the
team’s most valuable player for the majority of the time he spent with the Blue
Jays.
Originally signed by the
Philadelphia Phillies, Bell played three years in their minor league system.
Confident that no one was interested in him because he was buried deep in the
system, the Phillies left him off their 40-man roster, making him eligible for
the Rule 5 Draft. Blue Jays’ scout, Epy Guerrero had seen Bell play in his
native Dominican Republic and told the Jays’ management to jump at the chance
to acquire him. And they did, much to the dismay of Philadelphia.
Bell made his Major League debut
with Toronto in 1981 and saw action in 60 games, batting a meagre .233 with
five home runs and 12 RBIs. After a season and a few months of seasoning in the
Jays’ minor league system, Bell was called up to the big club again in 1983 and
played in 39 games, had an average of .268, hit two home runs and had 17 RBIs.
He became the full-time starting
left-fielder in 1984, joining centre-fielder Lloyd Moseby and right-fielder
Jesse Barfield to form what was recognized as “the best outfield in baseball.” Playing
in 159 games, Bell batted .292, slugged 26 home runs and drove in 87. The Blue
Jays finished second in the American League East for the first time, albeit a
distant second, 15 games behind the Detroit Tigers.
But 1985 was the year that both
the Blue Jays, and Bell, took off. He led the team with 28 home runs and 95
RBIs, won a Silver Slugger Award and finished eighth in voting for the AL MVP
Award. The Jays won their first division title in team history and the image of
Bell dropping to his knees when he squeezed the ball for the final out in the
division-clinching 5-2 win over the Yankees is a memory that will be forever
etched in the minds of Blue Jays fans old enough to remember it.
Unfortunately, the Jays lost the
ALCS to the Kansas City Royals in seven games, squandering a three-games-to-one
lead. For his part, Bell had nine hits for a .321 average and scored four runs,
but had only one RBI and didn’t hit a home run.
Toronto slumped back into fourth
place in 1986, and the spotlight was clearly on right-fielder Barfield as he
led the American League with 40 home runs (the first Blue Jay to reach that
milestone), but Bell was clearly the better player of the two. While he hit 31
homers of his own, and finished second to Barfield in runs scored (107-101)
Bell had more hits (198 to 170), a better batting average (.309 to .289), and
struck out only 60 times compared to Barfield’s 146.
It would be 1987 when Bell would
be the best player in baseball. He powered his way into the team record books
with 47 home runs. It would be another 23 years before Jose Bautista passed
that mark with 54 in 2010. He had an American League-leading 134 RBIs, a .308
batting average, was selected to his first All-Star Game and became the first
player in the history of the Blue Jays to win the AL’s Most Valuable Player
Award.
Unfortunately, 1987 had a bitter
ending as Toronto lost their last seven straight games to lose the AL East to
Detroit. Bell slumped in that final week after Tony Fernandez and Ernie Whitt
went down with injuries. Without the numbers three and five hitters in the
lineup, Bell didn’t see any good pitches in the final series against the Tigers
and wasn’t able to produce as he had all year long.
Controversy was waiting for the
1988 season. Toronto manager Jimy Williams had a young centre-field prospect,
Silvestre Campusano, and the skipper’s plan was to start the youngster in
centre, move Moseby to left field and make Bell the designated hitter, a plan
that didn’t sit well with the reigning MVP. He would feud with Williams all
year, even though he eventually got his left-field job back after Campusano
failed to impress at the big league level.
Despite his reluctance to DH,
Bell got off to a great start on Opening Day in 1988 by becoming the first
player in MLB history to hit three home runs in the first game of the year. He
finished the year with 24 dingers, 97 RBIs and a .269 average, a far cry from
his MVP numbers in 1987.
In 1989, Bell would hit only 18
home runs, but his .297 average and 104 RBIs would help lead the Jays to their
second division title. Along the way, he would hit a two-run walk-off home run
in the tenth inning of the final game in Exhibition Stadium before the team
moved to their new home, SkyDome. Bell finished fourth in MVP voting and it was
his sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of the penultimate game of the regular
season that scored the division-clinching run. Toronto lost to Oakland in the
ALCS and Bell batted only .200 with one home runs and two RBIs.
As 1990 moved along, it was
evident that years of playing on the hard artificial turf at Exhibition Stadium
was wearing Bell’s body down, just as had been the case with Barfield and
Moseby. Now the only player remaining from the “best outfield in baseball,”
Bell batted .265, hit 21 RBIs and 86 RBIs. He did, however, make his second
All-Star Game appearance.
But the Jays were looking to
revamp their team for 1991 and Bell was no longer a part of the team’s plans. He
signed with the Chicago Cubs where he played one year before moving to the
south side of Chicago for two seasons with the White Sox. He retired after 1993
at the age of only 33.
Bell was one of the first two
Blue Jays, along with pitcher Dave Stieb, to be honoured in the club’s “Level
of Excellence.” A fitting honour for the best player the team has ever seen.
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