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AUGUST 27, 1951–

Major League Career

1972–1989

Time as a Red

1985–1988

Position

THIRD BASE

AS A KID, Buddy Bell didn’t so much dream of playing for the Reds as plan on it. His dad, Gus, was one of the team’s biggest stars in the 1950s, and Joe Nuxhall, Wally Post, and other players came frequently to the Bell home in Monfort Heights. “It’s not like I took it for granted,” he says, “but I didn’t know what the process was.”

He found out about the process at a Reds’ tryout held at Crosley Field during the summer of 1968 between his junior and senior years at Moeller High School, where he was already a star. Approximately 100 hopefuls showed up for running, fielding, throwing, and hitting drills, followed by an intra-squad game. Bell felt he played well, even knocking one off the scoreboard, but when the scouts called out the players they wanted to see again, his name wasn’t mentioned. “I asked one of the scouts why I wasn’t chosen,” Bell recalls. “He said, ‘You don’t have enough power, you can’t throw very well, and you’re not fast enough.’” Having always been a top player, Bell was stunned. “It went from being the best day of my life to the worst,” he says. “It sort of broke my heart.”

In the 1969 amateur draft, the Indians picked him in round 16. Looking back, he says being drafted by the struggling Indians, rather than the powerhouse Reds, helped him advance more quickly to the majors. He spent just two full seasons in the minors before becoming the Indians starting right fielder in 1972 at the age of 20. He says he enjoyed playing for the Indians because it was close to home, they treated him well, and because once a year, in the annual Kid Glove Game that supported youth baseball, he played against the Reds. He vividly remembers his first one at Riverfront Stadium, chuckling, “One of the most memorable games I ever played in was an exhibition game.”

In 1973, he moved to third base, made the American League All-Star team, and established himself as one of the game’s top defenders at the hot corner. Through seven years with Cleveland and six with Texas, he was a five-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove winner. He produced his best season at the plate in 1980, when he slashed .329/.379/.498, while playing Gold Glove defense. Throughout these years, his goal remained to come home. “I always wanted to get back,” he says. “Playing for the Reds was something significant for those of us who grew up here.”

The Rangers granted his wish on July 19, 1985, when they dealt him for outfielder Duane Walker and pitcher Jeff Russell. “The Rangers did me a great favor,” he says. “I’d requested a trade to Cincinnati, and I’m pretty sure they could have gotten a better deal from some other clubs.” Though he was on the down side of his career by then, Reds fans were thrilled to have him at last.

“I was established and I’d been through it all, so the actual playing was old hat, but to be able to put on a Reds uniform and to hear [long-time Reds’ public address announcer] Paul Sommerkamp say my name in the Reds lineup was the greatest feeling in the world.” For that first game—and many others in the three years he played here—he got tickets for his parents on the first-base side of home plate so that from his position at third base he could see them right above the hitter.

On the 1986 team, which included five other local boys, he swatted a career-high 20 homers and became a leader in the clubhouse. His one regret: “I wish I’d gotten back to Cincinnati sooner, at the pinnacle of my career.” In July 1988, the Reds sent him to Houston, and at the end of 1989, spent with the Rangers, he retired after 18 Major League seasons at age 37.

Since then, he has managed the Tigers (1996–98), the Rockies (2000–02), and the Royals (2005–07), and is currently the assistant general manager of the White Sox. His sons David and Mike made it to the majors, with Mike playing for the Reds in 2000, making the Bells the only three-generation family in team history.