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 ...

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.

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{{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