{{Short description|American baseball player (1901–1985)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Les Bell |image=46546 Les Bell card.jpg |position=Third baseman |birth_date={{Birth date|1901|12|14}} |birth_place=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1985|12|26|1901|12|14}} |death_place=Hershey, Pennsylvania, U.S. |bats=Right |throws=Right |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=September 17 |debutyear=1923 |debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 27 |finalyear=1931 |finalteam=Chicago Cubs |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.290 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=66 |stat3label=Runs batted in |stat3value=509 |teams= * St. Louis Cardinals ({{baseball year|1923}}–{{baseball year|1927}}) * Boston Braves ({{baseball year|1928}}–{{baseball year|1929}}) * Chicago Cubs ({{baseball year|1930}}–{{baseball year|1931}}) |highlights= * World Series champion ({{wsy|1926}}) }} '''Lester Rowland Bell''' (December 14, 1901 – December 26, 1985) was an American professional baseball player, a third baseman who appeared in 896 games played in the Major Leagues from 1923 to 1931 for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Braves and Chicago Cubs. A native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he threw and batted right-handed, stood {{convert|5|ft|11|in}} tall and weighed {{convert|165|lb}}.
Bell's professional career began in 1921 in minor league baseball. After trials with the Cardinals in both {{baseball year|1923}} and {{baseball year|1924}}, he supplanted Howard Freigau and Specs Toporcer to become the Redbirds' regular third baseman in {{baseball year|1925}} and finished third on the team in runs batted in with 88, behind only Baseball Hall of Famers Rogers Hornsby and Jim Bottomley.
Then in {{baseball year|1926}} Bell reached career bests in hits (189), home runs (17), runs batted in (100) and batting average (.325). He finished in the top five in the National League in hits, slugging percentage (.518), OPS (.901), total bases (301), home runs, extra-base hits (64) and RBI. He also was among the NL leaders in strikeouts (62) and errors committed by a third baseman (22). Bell ranked sixth in the National League Most Valuable Player Award polling as the Cardinals won their first pennant and World Series championship. In the 1926 World Series against the New York Yankees, he played in all seven games and collected seven hits, including a two-run homer in Game 6 off Urban Shocker that salted away a 10–2 St. Louis triumph.
In {{baseball year|1927}}, however, Bell played in only 115 games and his production fell off considerably, and in March 1928 he was traded to the Braves for fellow third baseman Andy High. Bell was a regular for Boston in both {{baseball year|1928}} and {{baseball year|1929}}, but the Braves placed him on waivers after the 1929 campaign and he was claimed by the Cubs. He played two more big-league seasons in back-up roles before he returned to the minor leagues, where he would spend eight seasons as manager of his hometown Harrisburg Senators of the Class B Interstate League.
During his nine-year Major League career, Les Bell collected 938 hits, with 184 doubles and 49 triples accompanying his 66 home runs. He had 509 RBI in the majors.
==External links== {{baseballstats|br=b/bellle01}} *{{Find a Grave}}
{{1926 St. Louis Cardinals}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Les}} Category:1901 births Category:1985 deaths Category:Albany Senators players Category:Baseball players from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Category:Boston Braves players Category:Chicago Cubs players Category:Harrisburg Senators players Category:Houston Buffaloes players Category:Lansing Senators players Category:Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Category:Major League Baseball third basemen Category:Major League Baseball shortstops Category:Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Category:Minor league baseball managers Category:Reading Keystones players Category:St. Louis Cardinals players Category:Syracuse Stars (AA) players Category:20th-century American sportsmen