James "Cool Papa" Bell #1219

Caption from poster__      James "Cool Papa    They used to say, 'If we find a good black player, we'll sign him.'   ' They was lying '       James "Cool Papa" Bell had the sleek build of a high school  point guard and ran the bases like a streaking cheetah. With  daring speed, cunning game awareness, coupled with finesse  at the bat, Cool Papa Bell epitomized the game of "tricky"  baseball. He raised the once conservative game to an art  form that lives in today's game. His Hall of Fame plaque reads in part " Contemporaries rated him fastest man on the base paths."      James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903–March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball, considered by many baseball observers to have been the fastest man ever to play the game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Born in Starkville, Mississippi, Bell joined the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League as a pitcher in 1922. By 1924, he had become their starting center