Thursday, April 7, 2016

TTM Success - Eric Bell

I received a TTM success on March 29 from an Oriole pitcher that I often forget about.  Of course, when he was pitching for the Orioles, I hadn't yet discovered them.  Eric Bell (b. 1963) played in the majors in 1985, 1986 and 1987 for the Orioles; 1991 and 1992 for the Indians, and 1993 for the Astros.  He had a career record of 15-18 with an ERA of 5.18 and 152 strike outs.
He was slotted into the Orioles rotation in 1987 along with Scott McGregor, Mike Flanagan, Jeff Ballard and Mike Boddicker.  The pitching staff that season was pretty brutal, as the O's would finish 67-95.  The team ERA that season was 5.01.  That's pretty terrible.  Bell would go 10-13 with a 5.45 ERA and would not be seen again in the majors until 1991.  The Orioles pitching wasn't any better in 1988, so one has to wonder why Bell didn't get another shot with the O's.  Maybe he was hurt.

I mailed to Bell on March 21 and got the cards back signed on March 29 for an 8-day TAT.  Bell has a really nice signature, and it looks really good on the 1987 Topps Traded.  The 1987 Donruss looks nice, as well.  I thought I had more of his cards, but I couldn't find them when I was getting ready to send the TTM request out.

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