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 Cool Papa Bell Photo Gallery
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A follow-up To My Birthday Tribute To Cool Papa Bell!

With our Baseball History Comes Alive and our Old-Time Baseball Photos Facebook page currently having a combined readership of over 85K, we never know where our essays might go and who might actually read them.

Quite often, they’re picked up by descendants or friends of former ballplayers, and we always enjoy reading the personal information they’re willing to share with us. That’s one of the “perks” of this job! As I’ve said many times, it doesn’t matter to us if the former player was a star or a sub. Anyone who makes it to the Big Show is special in our eyes. Of course, it’s even a bit more special when the former player is a Hall-or-Famer. 

Such was the case with my birthday tribute to James  “Cool Papa” Bell last week. Just to review, besides being the possessor of one of the game’s most recognizable

and endearing nicknames, Cool Papa was an eight-time All-Star center fielder who played in the Negro Leagues from 1922 to 1950. He’s considered by many baseball observers to have been one of the fastest men ever to play the game.

(In the featured photo, we see Cool Papa Bell from his early years in the uniform of the St. Louis Stars)

Stories about the “fast as lightning” Bell and his remarkable speed are still widely circulated many years after his playing days. We’ve all read the legends about him put forth by teammate Satchel Paige, most notably this one: “Bell was so fast he

could turn off the light and be under the covers before the room got dark!”

Whenever I’ve written about the great Negro League star, it always strikes a chord with our readers. That birthday post generated over 3.2K Facebook “likes.” As chance would have it, the post was read by Robert Failing, Jr. who for many years covered Hall-of-Fame inductions for Baseball Hobby News. While on these assignments, he was fortunate to develop a warm friendship with Cool Papa. Robert was kind enough to share some reminiscences with me:  

“I had the most wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with Cool Papa Bell, and his kindnesses and personality will be with me always. He was one of the finest gentlemen I have had the pleasure of knowing. I cherish the time I spent with him.  A lot of time was spent in the lobby of the Otesaga Hotel where the Hall-of-Famers were guests. Cool Papa was often seated by himself and provided a great opportunity for developing a relationship. What a wonderful man he was. He was someone special and the times we spent together are some of my favorite recollections.”

Robert’s memories of Cool Papa certainly conform with the opinions I’ve read of others who knew him. Whenever I write about Cool Papa, I always include this quote from Negro League teammate Ted Paige:

“Bell was an even better man off the field than he was on it. He was honest. He was kind. He was a clean liver.

When I asked Robert if he had any stories he could share, he gladly send me a few. They give us a glimpse into the character of this wonderful man. I’ll let Robert tell the stories, with just minimal editing by me:

“One returning weekend, I had a few photos of the two of us together that I wanted signed. When we were together the first night, I showed him the photos and asked if he would sign them. He replied that his arthritis was causing him pain but he would sign them before the weekend was over. I noticed that he was hurting all weekend so I did not ask again. As I was getting ready to depart on Monday, a mutual friend asked if Cool had autographed the photos and I told him that I didn’t want to risk offending Cool since he was evidently in pain. My friend said that Mr. Bell would be offended if I left without the signatures and he walked me down the hall to Cool Papa’s room. Just as we got there, Papa was coming out of his room and he exclaimed, ‘Oh, there you is, there you is! I didn’t want you to go home without my signing your pictures.’ He led me into his room to sign them and handed me his Induction ring to look at.”

More Cool Papa stories from Robert Failing:

“We were sitting by ourselves in the Otesaga lobby when two young children approached him with two balls and a request for autographs. He looked at them and told them he was sorry but his arthritis was painful. He reached into his coat’s inside pocket and pulled out a brown lunch bag. From it, he pulled two cut signatures and presented them to the children. When he would be at home and free of pain, his wife Clara would have him sign pieces of paper to distribute for such requests. I mentioned something about taping the signatures to the ball and Cool picked up on it and said, ‘Little boy and little girl, all you have to do is tape my autograph on your ball!’ They walked away quite happy.”

“Some of my friends were parked in front of a Cooperstown business on a blocked street. I asked one of them what they were up to. I was told Cool wanted to go shopping for a few mementos to take back to St. Louis. I ventured over to the shop window and saw Mr. Bell standing alongside the cash register with his right leg placed upon a box. He was rolling down his sock to get to the cash he was carrying that was hidden underneath!”

“Cool did not come to Cooperstown alone. Later years he had a black friend with him and my friends and I spent some time with them both until his companion got called to return to St. Louis because his wife had had a heart attack. It was from that point on that we looked out for and spent time with this grand old man and I know his friend was comfortable trusting us to watch over him.”

As is readily apparent, Cool Papa Bell was not only an outstanding ballplayer, he was an even greater man. Thanks to Robert Failing for sharing with us some of his personal memories of the Negro League star and a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We’re always glad to shine our baseball spotlight on Cool Papa Bell whenever we have the chance.

Gary Livacari 

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Information: Excerpts edited from information sent by Robert Failing, Jr.