A must have for baseball fans, this is the story of a remarkable player who could have rivalled any of his superstar contemporaries, but just because of the colour of his skin had been relegated to the Negro League.

Baseball is my favorite sport and I was thrilled to read the story of Papa Bell. I knew very little about him or the negro league, but it was great to finally get educated on this subject. During these turbulent times this book should be very received and I'm so glad that this story was written.

More than a biography of a single player, but rather it is an homage to an era and a league that should not be forgotten or overlooked. Cool Papa Bell was a superstar, and should be remembered as one. I loved the storytelling and admiration in this book. This book will remind you why you love baseball, and what a shame it was that baseball was not integrated for the duration of the inception of the sport.

Cool PaPa Bell “Reserved, Unworldly, Mindful of his Mom and Serious about his craft”. This is The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell.

Lonnie Wheeler was given the great opportunity to interview Cool Papa, his memories were said to be remarkably accurate and detailed. Cool Papa was so fast he, once stole three bases including home on three straight pitches. As a outfielder he nabbed everything hit in his direction, and kept runners “honest” with his accurate throws.
This very interesting read is full of life, baseball stories and stats that will keep ALL Baseball enthusiasts turning the pages. There are many great photos of the NNL players throughout the book which gives us the faces to go with the names.

Referring to his time playing Baseball , A lot of people tell, me I was born too soon” I (Bell) replied I wasn’t born too soon, they just opened the door too late for the Blacks.”.
This is a very interesting read that is loaded with stories of life and BASEBALL.

Susan W/ Booklover/ BASEBALL Lover
Thank you for allowing me the privilege of reading this AMAZING book.

There is so much that is unknown about the Negro Leagues and its players. This despite the fact that they played in the same century as guys like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, who had forests worth of paper dedicated to their feats. This book will help bridge that knowledge gap.

Cool Papa Bell is, above all else, cool. The picture painted of him is a dignified and calm player who had to seek out opportunities where his white counterparts had them brought over on a silver platter. We learn about the loose and shambling nature of the Negro Leagues themselves. A team randomly moves because their stadium got sold, players go to play in foreign countries for a season or two before returning, etc. It's a wonder that these guys ever got the chance to actually play the games.

I liked the material talking about the times Cool Papa and Josh Gibson spent together. Gibson has long been one of the enigmatic figures I'd like to know more about. But, because of the dearth of press coverage of the Negro Leagues and the nomadic nature of the players, it's unlikely those mysteries will ever be brought to light.

The later half of the book shows how Cool Papa Bell was one of the bridges between the Negro Leagues and the post-integration major leagues. After retiring, he bought a house in St. Louis about a mile from Busch Stadium. There, he advised Lou Brock and gave tips to Maury Wills. He seems to have had a spare, but generally fine retirement.

I recommend this book. We need more like it too,

There are few better summer reads than a good baseball book. But far more than this, The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell offers readers a thoughtful and though-provoking perspective on a lost age of baseball. It is a tonic for these troubled times without r4sorting to simplistic historical judgments. It offers the life of this fascinating man for review, consideration, reflection. It may be safe to save that most baseball fans recognize the name of Cool Papa Bell, but it is equally clear to say that they doubtlessly know very little about the man. And this is not surprising. Baseball book typically rely on a vast amount of statistical and descriptive records that facilitate the recreation of key moments and emotional events. Furthermore, most authors can count on the reader’s familiarity with the teams, the competitions, the major players that form the background for almost story. For me it is this sense of familiarity that is one of the more compelling features of books about baseball. I expected to find these features in this book. Fairly early in the reading experience, however, it became clear that this book would not have these familiar, safe features. The detailed box scores that exist and that form the heart of so many baseball books are nonexistent here. Even newspaper accounts were sketchy at best. Even the most basic statistics are lost to time: did he steal 27 or 12 bases? Was his batting average .366 of .317? Did he play in 128, 200 or more games? This ambiguity is compounded by the fact that Mr Bell and his Negro League contemporaries are not easily associated with this team or that team. Teams, affiliations, even leagues appear a secondary thought (if that). Players move back and forth among teams, sometimes in the course of a few days or a single doubleheader. Indeed, there is even little sense of an actual ‘season’. A championship series (played in a number of different cities, some of which had no obvious connection to either team) would end and the teams would play again the next day. Hard work for a historian indeed. Yet this is where Mr Wheeler shines. The facts and details are fuzzy, but Cool Papa Bell shines through; his skills, his qualities, his character. And for me it is here, where the reader is offered a glimpse into the character of a man that this book stands out. The world as a whole and the baseball world in a smaller change changed dramatically over the course of Cool Papa Bell’s career and life. Mr. Wheeler has captured this world and these changes through his writing on authentic life of this man. As I began to write these words I was saddened to learn of the passing of Mr. Wheeler. This book will stand as a tribute to one of our great chroniclers of our beloved sport of baseball. It is with deep appreciation to Netgalley that I offer this review in exchange for receiving an advance copy of this book.

The book, "The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell," carries with it more than a little poignancy before reading a single page.

Author Lonnie Wheeler had just finished this book when he died in June. He was a sports writer who had written 12 books. The best-known of those efforts might have been with Henry Aaron and Bob Gibson. Most of the books were about baseball, although Wheeler could do more than that.

For whatever reason, the good folks at NetGalley provided reviewers like me an electronic copy of the book about six months before it was scheduled to be sold to the public. This is kind of like getting a Christmas gift in July, or at least having ice cream before dinner.

In any event, it is good to note that Wheeler - by all accounts a fine person and a fine writer - at least exited with another winner for his legacy. And who wouldn't want to write a book about a man named "Cool Papa?" The Negro Leagues had a great way with nicknames, with such names as "Turkey," "Mule," "Boojum," and "Double Duty." Cool Papa is lovely.

Wheeler admits in the opening pages that tracking down the full story of Bell's life is not exactly easy. We can get the idea of the music he created on the field during a career that lasted well over 20 years, but it's difficult to see all of the notes individually. After all, the Negro Leagues of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s were not particularly well organized, especially in the area of record keeping. We don't know how many games Bell played, or how many batting titles he won, or how many hits he had. We just know that he was really good.

There may have been faster people that played baseball, but not many. What's more, Bell played with a sense of daring that isn't seen in today's game. For example, how many players can score from first on a sacrifice bunt. Bell did it. When a batter bunted toward the third-base side of the pitcher's mound, Bell took second. Seeing that many of the fielders were out of the position, Bell rounded second and saw an open third base. He only had to beat a catcher to take third, and that was easy. But then when Cool Papa got to third base, he noticed that there was no one close to home - and he had a running start to get there. Mookie Betts sometimes goes from first to third on a sacrifice, but I don't think he has scored on that play.

The story that most people have heard about Bell involves a hotel. He had already established a reputation for speed when he noticed that a switch in his room when thrown had a delay of a few seconds before the light went out. Bell called in a teammate, and told him he was so fast he could turn out the light and be in bed before the room was dark. The response was along the lines of "yeah, sure," and then Cool Papa did it thanks to the pause.

Wheeler goes through the outline of Bell's. He was born with the name James Nichols, but eventually took the last name of Bell as a teen. Jim moved from Mississippi to St. Louis as a youngster, and used that city as a home base for the rest of his life. It was the launching point for his career in baseball. Bell did some pitching early in his career, but found a home in the outfield. Center field was a place where hits went to die in Bell's glove, because he covered so much ground.

The author makes one good move here in his approach to the book. He supplies the information that he has compiled about Bell, but he's more concerned with providing a look at his life and times. Bell played with many of the greats of the Negro League over the years - Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, etc. The book gives a good idea what the era was like for all concerned. It's hard not to fall in love with the idea of the Negro Leagues - top players who were denied the opportunity of playing against the best competition in the world because of the color line, but who pressed on anyway.

By the time integration came to major league baseball, it was too late for Bell. His playing days were about over. After retirement, he couldn't even find a job in the sport although he was an obvious expert in hitting, running and fielding. Bell became a janitor and then a night watchman in St. Louis.

Happily, though, Bell lived long enough to learn that his skills were appreciated. (This is in contrast to Gibson, who died of what was said to be a broken heart when he realized he was too old to go to the majors.) The Baseball Hall of Fame started taking Negro League stars in its ranks when Paige entered in 1971. Cool Papa went in in 1974. Bell had about 20 years to tell stories about his exploits in the Negro Leagues before he died in 1991, so Wheeler did have a good supply of oral interviews with Bell available that he could use to fill in some gaps.

We're coming up on the 100th anniversary of Bell's first pro game in 1922. Certainly that's a little dusty for some people, who prefer their history to be a bit more timely. But those looking for an overview of Bell and his times should be quite satisfied by "The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell."

This is an excellent read for any baseball fan who is interested in finding out more about the players and the running of the Negro Leagues. I enjoyed finding out more information about Cool Papa and the league that received very little publicity in its day, despite the quality of the players that were part of the Negro Leagues.

A great study of one of my all time favorite ballplayers. Mr Wheeler does an excellent job of bringing the legend of Cool Papa Bell to life. With the lack of record keeping and news coverage, he was able to dig deep to bring us a great view of a great ballplayer and human being. This book does the Hall of Famer justice. Of all of the biographies of the Negro League players, this one is top notch.