Cool Papa. Teddy Ballgame. 1902 Cincinnati Reds. Basinski. The Yankees.
James “Cool Papa” Bell passed away on March 7th, 1991 at the age of 87. I actually remember when this happened when either Sports Center or Baseball Tonight ran short segments on him on the day of his death. I had no idea who he was prior to his death although I quickly became fascinated with him due to his legendary speed as the majority of my favorite players have alway been guys who were speedsters. Finding this newspaper article was pretty cool but what I wonder is why it took the New York Times 2 days to report his death?
Ted Williams as a member of the Minneapolis Millers in 1938. The Millers were the Red Sox AA affiliate that Williams played for after he was bought from the San Diego Padres of the PCL after the 1937 season.
A great photo of the 1902 Cincinnati Reds. The Reds finished with a 70 – 70 record that season which placed them 4th in National League.
Eddie Basinski of the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League entertaining some of his teammates. Basinski was a a Shortstop and Second Basemen of the Beavers from 1948 to 1957. He also spent some time in the Majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates & Brooklyn Dodgers before his PCL career and is a member of the PCL Hall of Fame.
As a fan, I have always had a love/hate relationship in regards to how I feel about the New York Yankees. While I always despised George Steinbrenner purely for how he treated Dave Winfield (and Billy Martin to an extent), I still really liked a lot of his teams & players pre-Torre Era. No hate on Joe Torre as I really like him, but after the first couple World Series Championships I was kinda bitter. ANYWAYS this photo is incredible: Dave Winfield, Willie Randolph, Don Mattingly, Rickey Henderson and Dave Righetti…so awesome.
ninety feet of perfection. 