Death of "other" Mike Bell

[rico43]

There was a touching ceremony this week at the Reds-Twins game where the teams honored the memory of former player Mike Bell, who was the brother of current Reds manager David Bell. Bell's life was tragically cut short due to kidney cancer at the age of 46. He had his kidney removed in January but the cancer had spread to his liver and part of it was also removed.

The age is probably a tipoff but this is NOT the Mike Bell who was a reserve first baseman for the Braves in 1990-91. He is still alive and well -- as far as we know. Former Brave Bell, who is 53, was their fourth-round pick in the 1986 draft and left baseball after the 1994 season. He played in the Pirates system in '93 and indy ball in '94. He returned to Atlanta for the Alumni Day in 2013.

The late Mike Bell was born in Cincinnati and was the son of Buddy Bell (grandson of Gus), and was thus a third generation big leaguer, playing for the Reds in 2000. He was the Rangers' first-round pick in 1993 and was active in baseball every year. The Reds, in fact, were his fourth organization and moved on as a free agent following the 2000 season. He was an active player until 2005, then spent 13 years as an instructor, minor league manager and player development director for Arizona through 2018. In 2019, he joined the Twins as a bench coach in 2019-20.

Grandfather Gus Bell passed away in 1995 at the young age of 66. Buddy Bell, 69, is currently senior adviser to team president Dick Williams. Buddy Bell survived throat cancer in 2006 while he was manager of the Rangers.