William Bell (August 31, 1897 – March 16, 1969) was an American right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

. Born in Galveston, Texas, Bell played for the

Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 19 ...

for the first eight seasons of his career. Often overshadowed by star teammates such as "Bullet" Joe Rogan and

José Méndez José Colmenar del Valle Méndez (January 2, 1885 – October 31, 1928) was a Cuban right-handed pitcher and manager in baseball's Negro leagues. Born in Cárdenas, Matanzas, he died at age 43 in Havana. Known in Cuba as ''El Diamante Negro'' ...

, Bell was described as quiet and well-liked, known for pitching complete games. (Bell completed 74 percent of the games he started.) Bell had a 10–2 record for the 1924

, compiling a 2.63

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. The following year, Bell went 9–3 in the regular season, pitching 2 games in the World Series to a 1.13 ERA. Bell recorded a 16–3 record the next year, followed by a 13–6 record in 1927 and a 10–7 record in 1928. Bell spent the 1928-1929 winter with Havana in the Cuban League, where he was tied for the league lead in wins with nine. Bell then returned to the United States and pitched to a 14–4 record with the Monarchs, followed by a 9–3 record the next year. Bell joined the Detroit Wolves in 1932 after the demise of the Negro National League. He then signed with the Pittsburgh Crawfords, where he compiled a 16–4 record for the 1932 season. Bell then moved to the Newark Dodgers, and when the Dodgers were merged with the Brooklyn Eagles to form the Newark Eagles, he became the Eagles' manager in 1936–1937. Bell's last season in baseball was as Eagles manager in 1948. Baseball historian Dick Clark estimated that Bell would have averaged an 18–7 record had he played the 154-game schedule that was used in the Major Leagues at the time. He died at age 71 in

El Campo, Texas El Campo is a city in Wharton County, Texas, United States. The population was 12,350 at the 2020 Census, making it the largest city in Wharton County. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.5&nb ...

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, William Kansas City Monarchs players Homestead Grays players Pittsburgh Crawfords players Newark Eagles players 1897 births 1969 deaths Sportspeople from Galveston, Texas Baseball players from Texas 20th-century African-American sportspeople