The Back Nine with Jay Bell

Jay Bell holds the flagstick during the Diamondbacks Golf Classic at Whirlwind Golf Club.

Kevin Abele/Arizona Diamondbacks

He 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, 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:

10. 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.

11. 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 handicap kept going down to the point where I was better than scratch and I had a blast playing. The first time I ever broke par, down at Southern Dunes, was probably my most memorable round. I just don’t have as much time for it now.

12. How does hitting a golf ball compare with hitting a baseball?

It’s much harder to hit a golf ball, especially when it comes to hitting it straight. You’ve got about 90 degrees to work with in baseball, from one foul line to the other. You can use the entirety of those 90 degrees, which is nice. In golf, you might have 30 or 40 degrees and a little clubface that looks even smaller sometimes. It’s the same concept as far as putting the sweet spot of the club or the fat part of the bat on the ball, so there’s some comparison there. Golf is a game that I have always had a lot respect for and have loved the competition aspect of it. It’s the same concept as far as the one-on-one battle with a ball you have to hit.

13. Do you enjoy charity events like this one?

I love it, in part because I get to see a lot of old friends. To still have a relationship with the Diamondbacks family and be able to come out to a great course and tee off with these guys is pretty special. We get to reminisce. This particular event means a lot because it benefits military families, and I come from a military family. My dad was a career Air Force guy, which was a great way to grow up, so to be able to be part of this event honoring veterans makes it very special to me.

14. What has it been like to play golf with tour pros?

I’ve been able to play a lot with (former U.S. Open champion) Steve Jones, which has been great, but the most memorable was playing in the pro-am with Tiger. It was in 1999, right before he went on the hot streak where he was winning all the majors. I was 33, he had just turned 23 and it was a blast. I had such a great time It was so much fun playing that day, and Tiger was extremely gracious. I enjoyed every second of it. I was just amazed to see some of the stuff he was capable of doing with a golf ball.

Jay Bell talks with a local TV reporter (above), and then takes a few questions from AZGOLF Insider’s John Davis.

15. Do you take pride in being the original Diamondbacks player?

I do because we started from scratch and built something special, and it was a hard decision for me, going to an expansion team with no indication that we were going to win as fast as we did. I had known Buck (Showalter) for a long time and always had a great relationship with him, and having met Jerry (Colangelo), getting a feel for his vision, I was amazed at how much I enjoyed it from the start. I was fearful to some degree that I made the wrong decision, but once I met Jerry and the other people involved with the organization, I was convinced that I made the right one.

16. That first at-bat in 1986 must have been a thrill?

It was such a cool moment and a day I will never forget. Grover (Mike Hargrove) told me I couldn’t hit Bert’s curveball so I should sit on a fastball and that probably would be the first pitch I got. Sure enough, he threw me a fastball about belt high. I was ready for it, made good contact and it just barely cleared the fence at the old Metrodome. I still have videotape of it. What was neat was coming around the bases and seeing guys like Andre Thornton and Phil Niekro watching from the dugout. Bert tipped his cap when I walked off, which was such a classy thing to do.

17. How does it compare to the milliondollar grand slam?

That is the favorite moment in my career. First of all, the odds against it were astronomical, but also the fact that I could do something I love and have the opportunity to change somebody’s life in the process, was amazing. I couldn’t believe that the lady picked me when we had all these guys so much more capable of hitting a home run. Then I had made an out in the fifth inning, so there is no way I should have been batting in the sixth, but we got a rally going and the next thing you know, the bases are loaded and now I’m up. The count went to 3-1 and I’m thinking I have to swing the bat. I fouled one off, then stepped into the box and my legs started shaking, so I stepped out and I said, “Lord I don’t know what the theology is here, so I’m not going to pray for a home run but I’m going to pray for calmness.” I fouled off another one, then got a fastball up in the zone and took my cut. It went over the fence and it was probably the only time in my career that I showed any real emotion going around the bases. It was quite a day and by far the favorite highlight of my career.

18. How about scoring the winning run in the World Series?

That was just amazing. To be able to do that, it’s something that, first of all, you know is probably never going to happen again in your life. But thinking about the fact that the Diamondbacks had shown the confidence in me to offer me a contract as their first player and I had been with them every step of the way to get to that point of playing in a World Series and then having the absolute privilege to score that run is something that is just hard to describe. I feel very blessed that I was ever in a position to do that.