Terence William Bell (born October 27, 1962) is an American former
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
. He was the first round selection of the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
in the
1983 Major League Baseball Draft
First round selections
The following are the first round picks in the 1983 Major League Baseball draft.
''*'' Did not sign
Compensation picks
Other notable players
*Bill Swift, 2nd round, 29th overall by the Minnesota Twins, but did not ...
, two selections ahead of
Roger Clemens
William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...
.
Bell was originally drafted by the
Oakland Athletics in the sixth round of the
1980 Major League Baseball Draft
First round selections
The following are the first round picks in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft.
Compensation Picks
Other notable players
* Tim Teufel, 2nd round, 38th overall Minnesota Twins
*Dan Plesac, 2nd round, 41st overall ...
as a senior at
Fairmont East High School
Fairmont can refer to:
Places Canada
* Fairmont Hot Springs, British Columbia, a resort town
** Fairmont Mountain, a summit near Fairmont Hot Springs
United States
*Fairmont, Illinois
* Fairmont, Minnesota
* Fairmont, Missouri
*Fairmont, Ne ...
in
Kettering, Ohio, but opted to attend
Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia w ...
in
Norfolk, Virginia instead. While attending Old Dominion, he participated in the
1982 Amateur World Series
The 1982 Amateur World Series was the 27th Amateur World Series (AWS), an international men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (which titled it the Baseball World Cup as of the 198 ...
and the
Pan American Games. When the Monarchs won the Sun Belt East Division Championship in 1983, he was named a ''
Sporting News'' All-American and the
Sun Belt Conference MVP.
Bell was considered the top defensive catcher in the draft when the Mariners selected Bell with the seventeenth overall pick in 1983. However, he batted just .176 in his first professional season for the
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...
's
Wausau Timbers
The Wausau Timbers were a minor league baseball team, located in Wausau, Wisconsin. The Timbers were members of the Class A Midwest League from 1975 to 1990. The franchise was sold in 1991 and moved to Geneva, Illinois, where it became the Kane Co ...
, and displayed very little power. In three seasons in the Mariners' organization, he batted .233 with two
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s and 64
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
. On May 21, , he was dealt to the
Kansas City Royals for
relief pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...
Mark Huismann
Mark Lawrence Huismann (born May 11, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball relief pitcher.
Early years
Huismann was born in Littleton, Colorado, and attended Colorado State University upon graduation from Thomas B. Doherty High Sch ...
.
With the Royals, Bell received a September call-up in 1986. He appeared in eight games, and went
hitless in five
plate appearances with two
walks. On September 3, , after spending the entire season in the minors with the
Memphis Chicks, he was the
player to be named later
In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...
in a mid-season deal with the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
for reliever
Gene Garber
Henry Eugene Garber (born November 13, 1947) is an American former professional baseball sidearm relief pitcher who played for four Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations from to .
Playing career
Garber was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirate ...
. He appeared in one game for the Braves, and struck out pinch hitting for
Ed Olwine.
He continued to play minor league ball for the Braves through . In seven minor league seasons, he batted .231 with eight home runs and 136 RBIs.
Sources
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Terry
1962 births
Living people
Kansas City Royals players
Atlanta Braves players
Richmond Braves players
Wausau Timbers players
Major League Baseball catchers
Baseball players from Dayton, Ohio
Old Dominion Monarchs baseball players
All-American college baseball players
Chattanooga Lookouts players
Greenville Braves players
Memphis Chicks players
Peninsula Pilots players
Salinas Spurs players
Junior college baseball coaches in the United States