1987...George Bell

My name is Craig Ballard, and I am a Jays fan

No this is not another AA meeting (Alex Anthopolous) but rather a look at a piece of Jays history...

1987 debut

For many Jays fans thoughts of 1987 start and end with the collapse of the team down the stretch that cost them the AL East Title (back in the day when there were 2 Divisions in the AL and 2 in the NL and you made the playoffs by winning your 7-team Division - period - there was no Wild-Card...1987 had the Iran-Contra affair...debut of the Simpsons on the Tracy Ullman Show...debut of the Loonie...the birth of Kristin Cavallari...but the idea of 3 Divisions, or the Wild-Card, were years away)...

The '87 Blue Jays were managed by the soon-to-be maligned Jimy Williams...the beginning of his end came in the summer leading into the 1988 season when he wanted reigning AL MVP George Bell to DH instead of playing Left Field like Bell insisted...but 1987 had everyone still pulling for Jimy...heck it was a 96 win team...the issue was those 96 wins were in the books after 155 games were played...those 96 wins had the Jays ahead of the Detroit Tigers by 3.5 games with 7 left to play...alas those 96 wins would be all the Jays would muster as they collapsed to the tune of 7 straight loses to end the 162 game season in 2nd place by 2 games

But...if you are like my Grandpa, my cousin David, or yours truly then 1987 has other, much happier memories...courtesy of Jorge (George) Antonio Bell Mathey ...Let's remember that Bell averaged 31 HR's and 104 RBI's during a 5 year span from '84 through '88 in the powder blue Toronto uni...all that while enduring Fergie Oliver and his sure-to-be stupid question to you in the dugout (side note - Good Lord do we all remember Fergie Oliver?!?!  Not Just Like Mom Fergie Oliver, but worse, in-the-dugout reporter Fergie Oliver!!!  A complete sideshow in itself...this guy would create such bazaar questions with horrible timing and it got old fast with the players)

Now when the 2010 MLB season concludes in a few short weeks for YOUR TORONTO BLUE JAYS we will certainly take a look at the amazing season put together by Jose Bautista...a season that has him as the Jays new single-season HR leader...he passed George Bell's Blue Jays record of 47, hit in 1987...

Here are Bell's #'s from 1987 - .308 batting average...111 runs scored...47 HR's...134 RBI's...AL All-Star (side note - Bell put up this historic season at $1.175 million...imagine what these #'s would pay these days?!?!)

We remember an RBI machine in 1987...if George came to the plate with runner(s) on base they were about to be coming home...369 total bases for Bell...188 hits...this all added up to the Blue Jays only MVP award in their 33+ year history...


There was a game in late April where Bell hit just his 2nd HR of the season, it was a 10th inning game winner at Chicago against Bob James...just 5 RBI's at this point too, and this is after 16 games...2 days later he hits 2 HR's in a Jimmy Key 5-2 victory...another the next day off Frank Viola...by the time May ended Bell was up to 15 HR's and 39 RBI's and it was on...a 12 HR, 30 RBI June cemented Bell on the scene as one of the premier hitters in MLB...July saw Bell start in the All Star Game, but hit just 3 HR's for the month...he was back at it though in August with 11 more before finishing with 47...

The pride of San Pedro de Macorís (Dominican Republic) was one of my fav Jays ever and 1987 was a historic season for #11

craig.ballard@hotmail.com