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‘THE ORIGINAL DIAMONDBACK’ LOVES TO TEE IT UP
Jay Bell holds the flagstick during the Diamondbacks Golf Classic at Whirlwind Golf Club.
By John Davis
H
e was the first player ever signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks and, perhaps fittingly, scored the winning run in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series against the Yankees. When he wasn’t on the baseball field, he often could be found on golf courses around the Phoenix area, where he has played to a plus handicap and teed it up with Tiger Woods in the pro-am portion of the former Williams World Challenge (now Hero World Challenge) at Grayhawk Golf Club. As the Diamondbacks begin their 22nd season, Jay Bell is now a minor league manager in the Yankees organization after a playing career with several memorable moments. Bell is among 13 players in history to hit the first pitch they ever saw in the major leagues for a home run, but in his case, it had some added twists. It came the day after he was called up to the Cleveland Indians against Minnesota Twins starter Bert Blyleven, 18 | AZ GOLF Insider | SPRINGSUMMER 2019
the player for whom Bell was traded one year earlier and who became a Hall of Famer. After getting a tip from minor league manager Mike Hargrove, Bell hit the pitch out of the park to literally launch his major league career. He considers another home run an even greater achievement as he hit a grand slam for the Diamondbacks that won a Valley woman $1 million against steep odds when she picked him to hit it in the sixth inning of a game at then-Bank One Ballpark. Gylene Hoyle of Chandler, who chose Bell, had won tickets to attend her first Diamondbacks game and later explained that her family had modest income and couldn’t afford to buy tickets. Recently, AZGolf Insider caught up with Bell at Whirlwind Golf Club for the annual Diamondbacks Golf Classic, which has raised nearly $2 million in support of military veterans, to talk about his golf game, baseball career and teeing off with Tiger:
What was your introduction to golf? I grew up in Florida and, in 1978, we moved to a neighborhood with a golf community. We lived on the sixth hole, so I basically had a big back yard and a putting green. I’m sure I left a lot of pitch marks out there that I didn’t fix as well as I should have, and I got chased off the green a few times. I was about 13 at the time. When I got to pro baseball, I had a lot of teammates who were good golfers, and we were always very competitive so it was a lot of fun playing golf with them.
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How would you describe your golf game? Before 2012 it was extremely competitive. Then I went back to work (as a coach) and didn’t have the time for it, so right now it is not all that great. When I was away from (baseball), I was playing golf five days a week and a couple rounds a lot of those days, so 10 rounds a week and practicing. My
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KEVIN ABELE/ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
JAY BELL
