TTM Stats
- Sent: 7/13/2017 | Received: 10/11/2018 | 88 Days
- ’89 Topps, ’90 Fleer, ’90 Upper Deck, ’92 Topps, ’93 Triple Play
- Address: Trenton Thunder
The Story of the Autograph
Jay Bell is a former shortstop in the major leagues. He played from 1986 thought 2003 for the Indians, Pirates, Royals, Diamondbacks and Mets. I would say he is primarily known for his time with the Pirates and Diamondbacks where he earned an All-Star selection in each place.
Bell grew up in Florida and was originally a first round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in 1984. The Twins traded him to the Indians in a deal that brought Bert Blyleven to Minnesota before he made an appearance in the majors and he made his debut with the Indians on September 29th 1986. It just so happens that his first at bat was against Blyleven and wouldn’t you know, he hit a home run.
He was never the most athletic fielder or the flashiest player but he was a good overall shortstop. He won a Gold Glove in 1993 and broke Ozzie Smith’s streak of NL Gold Gloves at shortstop. That was his best season in Pittsburgh as he also earned Silver Slugger and All-Star honors in addition to receiving MVP votes. He also received MVP votes in 1991 when he his what was then a career high 16 homers.
After a stop in Kansas City, Bell moved on to the Diamondbacks and earned another All-Star nod in 1999 and MVP votes as well that year. He almost doubled his previous career high with 38 homers and had 112 RBI to go with it in addition to hitting .289. Two years later he was part of the Diamondbacks team that went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series.
He finished his career out in New York with the Mets in 2003 and played 72 games. He went into coaching after playing and this year was the manager of the Trenton Thunder.
The Score on Jay Bell – 5.0
Jay has a short signature, what do you think you would get with just seven letters. And when it looks like he only puts “J” for his first name it gets even shorter. Still he has some better size. Some of these came out much better than others but it wasn’t that great of a marker he signed with and I took some off for that.
Thanks Mr. Bell! I’m giving these a 5.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.