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Sign up todayThe Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell
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Learn moreThe first full biography of the star Negro Leaguer and Hall of Famer
James “Cool Papa” Bell (1903–1991) was a legend in Black baseball, a lightning-fast switch hitter elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Bell’s speed was extraordinary; as Satchel Paige famously quipped, he was so fast he could flip a light switch and be in bed before the room got dark.
In The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell, experienced baseball writer and historian Lonnie Wheeler recounts the life of this extraordinary player, a key member of some of the greatest Negro League teams in history.
Born to sharecroppers in Mississippi, Bell was part of the Great Migration, the movement of African Americans from the southern states to the northern states from 1910 through 1930. In St. Louis, baseball saved Bell from a life working in slaughterhouses. Wheeler charts Bell’s ups and downs in life and in baseball, in the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, where he went to escape American racism and major league baseball’s color line.
Rich in context and suffused in myth, this is a treat for fans of baseball history.
Lonnie Wheeler (1952–2020) was the author of numerous books including collaborations on the autobiographies of Hank Aaron (I Had A Hammer) and Bob Gibson (Stranger to the Game), and a baseball dialogue between Gibson and Reggie Jackson (Sixty Feet, Six Inches).
When he was seven, David Sadzin’s first grade teacher gave him a paragraph to read out loud. She interrupted him halfway to proclaim him the “Ringmaster” in his class’s musical extravaganza about the circus. He’s been using his voice to get out of trouble ever since. After a few intense years on New York’s stages, performing traditional and experimental theater, improv, and sketch comedy, he’s now settled comfortably in front of the mic in his home studio in Brooklyn.
Reviews
“Wheeler’s bio of Cool Papa Bell reads like fiction. That’s a tribute to Bell’s achievements, which are worthy of legend, and to Wheeler’s spellbinding writing and extraordinary ability to sift fact from myth.”
“A book for baseball history buffs receives a stellar, 4.5 out of 5 stars.”
“David Sadzin narrates with an interested tone and an emotional emphasis that fits the subject…Sadzin’s delivery gives dignity to Bell and never overshadows the amazing Hall of Famer. Without trying to imitate anyone, Sadzin helps paint a picture of a great ballplayer decades ago.”
“To white baseball fans in his day, Cool Papa Bell was an invisible man at an invisible time. The virtual embodiment of the Negro Leagues, he is honored by Lonnie Wheeler’s last, great biography—the portrait of a man and an age only now beginning to be seen by us all.”
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