George Bell

In 2004, he was inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

Bell became a free agent after the 1990 season and signed with the Chicago Cubs. After one year with the Cubs, he was traded across town to the Chicago White Sox for Sammy Sosa and Ken Patterson. He played two years with the White Sox, recording 25 HR and 112 RBI in 1992. In 1993 his play declined, primarily due to a persistent knee injury. He was benched in the ALCS against his former team, the Blue Jays, and was released at the end of the season, after which he announced his retirement.

On May 28, 1989, while with the Blue Jays, Bell hit a walk-off home run in a 7–5 victory over the Chicago White Sox in the final Major League game played at Exhibition Stadium. Bell also homered in the first game at the Blue Jays' new park, SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre), on June 5, eight days later.

On April 4, 1988, Bell became the first player in Major League history to hit three home runs on an opening day (all of them coming off of Bret Saberhagen), however, his play throughout the year declined as he conflicted with Blue Jays manager Jimy Williams, who wanted Bell to become the Jays' full-time designated hitter. Bell had a bounce-back year in 1989, posting a .297 average, 18 HR and 104 RBI, helping the Blue Jays win their second division title. However, in the ALCS, he only hit .200 with one home run, as they lost the series to the Oakland Athletics.

Originally signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1978, Bell was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1980 Rule 5 draft. Bell was discovered in the Dominican Republic by Blue Jays scout Epy Guerrero. His first season as a regular was in 1984, when he first teamed with fellow outfielders Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield. That outfield, along with solid starting pitching, led the Blue Jays to their first-ever American League East division title in 1985. Bell caught a fly ball, off the bat of Ron Hassey, for the final out in the 5–1 victory over the New York Yankees on October 5, clinching the division title for the Blue Jays. Despite Bell's .321 average in the ALCS, they lost the series to the Kansas City Royals. His best season came in 1987, although the Blue Jays fell two games short of the Detroit Tigers in the division race. Bell finished with a .308 BA, .352 OBP, .608 SLG, 111 R, 47 HR and a league-leading 134 RBI. He was awarded the American League MVP award that year.

During the early 1960s, Warner Brothers started to divest itself from the television western market and Bell went on to appear for a few more years in shows like "Gunsmoke," "Bonanza", and "The Virginian".

Jorge Antonio Bell Mathey (born October 21, 1959), better known as George Bell, is a Dominican former left fielder and American League MVP in Major League Baseball who played 12 seasons for the Toronto Blue Jays (1981, 1983–1990), Chicago Cubs (1991) and Chicago White Sox (1992–1993). Bell batted and threw right-handed.

During the 1950s, Bell was so widely respected among his peers that he was frequently taken on location in various films. This was never more evident during the filming of the Gary Cooper movie "Distant Drums" where he and two other cowboy extras were chosen to join the primary cast and to portray soldiers where they were taken on location to Florida for 2 months. When he got back, he continued to appear in a various assortment of movies that were filmed at Republic and Warner Brothers.

By the late 1950s, the age of the television western had arrived. There were countless westerns on the air and they all needed cowboys to fill their posse scenes. This couldn't have come at a better time for Bell because the once dominate Republic Studios had fallen into disrepair under the mismanagement of Herbert Yates and eventually was forced to close down. Bell found himself working various television westerns including a significant amount of work appearing a barfly or a henchman in many different Warner Brothers television productions.

George Bell is a cowboy actor who has been constantly overlooked by western enthusiast. Starting in the 1940s, Bell was a regular in western movies that were filmed at Republic where Bell could be seen menacing the good guys as a part of the gang that were terrorizing the local citizens or he could be seen riding in a sheriff's posse.

In 1587 games over 12 seasons, Bell posted a .278 batting average (1702-for-6123) with 814 runs, 308 doubles, 34 triples, 265 home runs, 1002 RBI, 331 base on balls, .316 on-base percentage and .469 slugging percentage. He recorded a .964 fielding percentage. In the 1985 and '89 ALCS, he hit .271 (13-for-48) with 6 runs, 1 home run and 3 RBI.