Bell played his high school baseball at
J.M. Tate High School in
Cantonment, Florida. A first-round pick by the
Minnesota Twins in 1984, he struggled initially, committing 129 errors over his first three minor-league seasons. The following year, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in a deal that brought
starter Bert Blyleven to the Twins. When Bell finally made it to the majors in 1986, he faced Blyleven in his
first major-league at-bat. During this moment, Bell ripped the first pitch he saw from Blyleven for a
home run. Bell maintained his reputation as one of the best shortstops in the 1990s. His range may have been considered average but he had a great knowledge of the hitters and positioned himself well. He won a
Gold Glove Award in 1993, breaking a string of thirteen straight
National League Gold Gloves at
shortstop by
Ozzie Smith. It was also the first Gold Glove by a Pirate shortstop since
Gene Alley's back-to-back honors in 1966 and 1967. Though mostly a singles and doubles hitter at first, Bell was also an expert at
bunting. Bell did show early signs of his power potential hitting 21 home runs in 1997 and 20 in 1998. A trial switch to second base at end of the '98 season became a permanent move the next spring. Bell belted 36 of his 38 homers from his new position, a total exceeded only by
Rogers Hornsby,
Davey Johnson and
Ryne Sandberg among second basemen. One of those round-trippers was a sixth-inning
grand slam off the
Oakland Athletics pitcher Jimmy Haynes on the final game before the
All-Star break, which won $1 million for an Arizona fan, Gylene Hoyle, who had correctly predicted the batter and the inning for a bases-loaded blast. Bell won the
World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001, serving as the winning run in Game 7 when he reached base on a ninth-inning bunt before
Luis Gonzalez singled to deliver a walk-off series victory over the
New York Yankees. In his career, Bell batted .265, with 195 home runs, 868 runs batted in, 1,123
runs scored, 1,964 hits, 394
doubles, 67
triples and 91
stolen bases. As a player, Bell was well known for wearing eyeglasses on the field. ==Coaching career==