Michael John Bell (born December 7, 1974 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a minor league baseball coach for the Visalia Rawhide, former coach of the Yakima Bears, and former third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds in the 2000 season. He is the brother of David Bell, son of Buddy Bell and grandson of Gus Bell. Bell is a graduate of Moeller High School.

[edit] Baseball career

Mike Bell was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 1993 amateur draft. He spent the next seven years playing in the minor leagues for affiliates of the Rangers and New York Mets.

In 1999, he was signed as a free agent by the Cincinnati Reds and made his major league debut with the team on July 20, 2000. He played his final major league game on October 1, 2000. In his one-year MLB career, Bell was a .222 hitter with two home runs and four RBI in 19 games.

After the 2000 season, Bell returned to the minor leagues playing on affiliates of the Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and retired on April 28, 2005 after a short tenure with the Memphis Redbirds, an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 2007, Bell was named the coach of the Yakima Bears, a minor league affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is currently the manager of the Visalia Rawhide.

[edit] Mitchell Report

He was named in the Mitchell Report on Steroid Abuse in Baseball on December 13, 2007. According to Kirk Radomski, Bell purchased human growth hormone. Bell, a minor league manager was required to by the commissioner of baseball to meet with the investigators. Bell testified that 'he purchased and received one shipment of human growth hormone from Radomski while in the minor leagues during the 2003 off-season'.^[1] In a statement after the report was published, Bell stated:

"I'm glad all this stuff came out, and I can move on and concentrate on next year." "I have a chance to show people that I made a mistake. Things are tough at times, but you just gotta persevere through it. I can't take back what I did, but I can turn it into a positive." "I don't think this defines who I am."^[2]

[edit] See also

• List of second generation MLB players
• List of Major League Baseball players named in the Mitchell Report

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube