
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991                   TAG: 9103090069
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HALL OF FAMER `COOL PAPA' BELL, 87, DIES

James "Cool Papa" Bell, among the first players from the Negro Leagues to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, has died after a brief illness.

Bell, considered the fastest player in the Negro Leagues, died Thursday night at St. Louis University Hospital. He was 87.

Hall of Famer Satchel Paige liked to tell a story demonstrative of Bell's speed.

"He was so fast, man, that he could turn out the light and jump in bed before it got dark," said Paige, not knowing the switch had a three-second delay.

Bell had been hospitalized since suffering a heart attack Feb. 27. His wife, Clara B. Bell, died Jan. 20.

Bell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974, following Negro League stars Paige (1971), Josh Gibson and Walter "Buck" Leonard (both 1972) and Monte Irvin (1973).

In his prime, he was rumored to be the highest-paid player in the Negro Leagues with a top salary of $90 a month.

Bell hit .407 in 1946, his final season. He retired a year before Jackie Robinson became the first black player to appear in the major leagues this century.

by CNB