The newest team in the Southern League will have one of Pensacola’s greatest baseball players as its manager.
The Rocket City Trash Pandas will launch their franchise in April with manager Jay Bell, a 1984 Tate High graduate and former Minnesota Twins No. 1 draft pick, whose 18-year major league playing career included being a two-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner and World Series champion.
The Trash Pandas, a Los Angeles Angels affiliate and franchise spawned from transfer as the Mobile BayBears, will play in the $46 million, 7,000-capacity, Toyota Field in Madison, Ala., located off Interstate-565, 11 miles east of Huntsville.
The ballpark is scheduled for completion shortly before the Southern League season begins on April 9. The team’s first home game is April 15 and the Trash Pandas’ only trip to Pensacola as members in the Southern League North Division will be for a weekend series July 16-19.
“I have known Jay for 23 years and can’t think of anyone better qualified to be the manager of the Trash Pandas than he is,” said Trash Pandas president Ralph Nelson in a news release.
Nelson signed Bell as a free agent infielder in 1998 while working for Arizona Diamondbacks during the MLB team’s inaugural season. Bell, who joined with Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter, a Century native and former Pensacola resident, in that 1998 season, later made team history when scoring the winning run for the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series.
“(Bell) is unsurpassed in his knowledge of the game of baseball — both off the field and on,” Nelson said. “Importantly, he brings championship experience to our dugout.
“But personally, I am most excited for our community to learn what I’ve known for decades — that Jay Bell is a man of exemplary character and integrity who will lead our young players by example. He was also one of the smartest players I encountered in my 25 years in MLB. I have little doubt he will be a major league manager in the not so distant future.”
Bell, who turned 55 on Dec. 11, grew up in Pensacola and led Tate to the 1984 Class 4A state championship, after helping Aggies to a state runner-up finish in 1982.
Bell’s prior connection with the Southern League was in 2012 as hitting coach for the Mobile BayBears in the same season when the Pensacola Blue Wahoos made their debut as Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Bell later became the Reds’ bench coach in 2014-15.
This past season, as manager in the New York Yankees’ organization with their Triple-A affiliate in Scranton-Wilkes Barre (Pa.), his team won the International League North Division.
“Reuniting Minor League Baseball with Madison and the greater Huntsville area is thrilling,” said Bell in a news release. “I am ecstatic to manage the first Trash Pandas team and cannot wait to go to work daily at Toyota Field.
“I’m excited for our new state-of-the-art facility and I am certain the fan experience here will be second to none. Although I can’t promise a championship, I will promise that the players who play for Rocket City will represent the fans, city, and the Angels organization well.”
Bell became the eighth overall pick in 1984 when the Twins drafted him as a shortstop from Tate. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians organization a year later, then made his MLB debut in 1986 when he homered in his first MLB at-bat and ironically off Bert Blyleven, the player the Twins obtained in the trade for Bell.
Bell became only the 11th player in history at the time to homer in a first at-bat. He became part of Pensacola’s most glorious era in professional baseball.
Travis Fryman followed Bell as Tate Aggies shortstop and also became a No. 1 draft pick and long-time major league player. Other Pensacola players in the major leagues during that era included Jim Presley (Escambia High) and Greg Litton (Woodham High), both of whom enjoyed great success.
Bell was an MLB All-Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates during a tenure where his 78 home runs were the second-best by a Pirates’ shortstop in team history, behind Hall of Famer Arky Vaughn, who played in the 1930s. Bell then became an All-Star with the Diamondbacks.
Bell and his wife Laura, a Pensacola native, have been married for 33 years and the couple both have multiple family ties in the Pensacola area. Their two sons, Brock and Brantley, both played professional baseball in the minor leagues. Their oldest of three children is daughter Brianna, 27.
The Trash Pandas will make their debut on the road on April 9 against geographic rival, Birmingham Barons. Their first home series is against the Mississippi Braves on April 13.
With Rocket City in the Southern League’s North Division, the Montgomery Biscuits will replace Mobile as South Division members and become the second-nearest rival for the Blue Wahoos, behind the Biloxi Shuckers.
Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and current senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos/Studer55. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com.
