Ralph Albert "Lefty" Bell (November 16, 1890 – October 18, 1959) was a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

from 1909 to 1916."Ralph Bell Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 8, 2011. He appeared in three

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) ...

games for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

in 1912. Bell was 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighed 170 pounds."Ralph Bell Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 8, 2011.

Career

Bell was born in Argyle, Iowa, in 1890. With his family, he moved to nearby

Kahoka Kahoka is a city in and the county seat of Clark County, Missouri, Clark County, in the northeast tip of Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 1,961. History Kahoka was platted in 1858. The ...

, in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, in his childhood. He started his professional baseball career in 1909. That season, he pitched for two minor league teams and won nine games for each. He was then purchased by the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

and went to spring training with them in early 1910, but he was unable to make the team for the regular season. Instead, Bell spent the 1910 season with the Western Association's Joplin Miners. In 33 games for Joplin, he went 21-7 and led the league in wins. The Miners finished the season in first place with a record of 90-34 and is considered one of the greatest minor league teams of all time. The following season, Bell pitched for the Central Association's Burlington Pathfinders and won 21 games again. After starting 1912 with a record of 12–8, he was purchased by the Chicago White Sox of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

. He made three relief appearances for the White Sox in July and allowed six earned runs in six innings. He then returned to the minors. In 1913, while playing for the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

's Winona Pirates, Bell set a career-high in wins, with 28. No other pitcher in the league had more than 20. He played for Winona again in 1914 and won 15. He then joined the Northern League's Fargo-Moorhead Graingrowers, and in 1915 he went 22–13 to lead his league in wins for the third and final time."1915 Northern League Pitching Leaders"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 8, 2011. Bell's professional baseball career ended after the 1916 season. Overall, he went 156–90 in the minor leagues for a career .634

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

. Bell died in Burlington, Iowa, in 1959.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Ralph 1890 births 1959 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago White Sox players Springfield Senators players Pittsburg Pirates players Joplin Miners players Burlington Pathfinders players St. Joseph Drummers players Winona Pirates players Fargo-Moorhead Graingrowers players Baseball players from Iowa Baseball players from Missouri People from Lee County, Iowa People from Kahoka, Missouri