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David Russell " Gus" Bell Jr. (November 15, 1928 – May 7, 1995) was an American professional baseball player and scout. He played in Major League Baseball as a center fielder from 1950 to 1964, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, where he was a four-time All-Star and a member of Cincinnati's National League pennant-winning team. Bell had 100 or more runs batted in four times during his Reds career and batted .292 or better six times.
Bell also played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets and Milwaukee Braves. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1964.
Gus Bell was the oldest member of a rare three-generation major league family. His son Buddy Bell has been a third baseman, coach, manager and front-office executive in the majors since 1972, and his grandsons, former MLB infielders David and Mike, became coaches, managers or player development officials after their playing careers.
The elder Bell wore uniform #25 during his nine years with the Cincinnati Reds (known as the "Redlegs" from 1953 to 1958). Buddy Bell wore 25 in tribute to his father during much of his playing and managing career, including his 1985–88 tenure with the Reds. David Bell, who managed the Reds from 2019 to 2024, carried on the tradition when he took Cincinnati uniform #25 as well.
Bell played for the Pirates through , leading the National League in triples with 12 in , and driving in 89 runs. On June 4, 1951, he hit for the cycle against the Philadelphia Phillies. In 2004, his grandson David hit for the cycle; Gus Bell and David Bell are the only grandfather-grandson duo in major league history to hit for the cycle.
But a terrible 1952 campaign, during which the Pirates compiled a franchise-worst 42–112 record and Bell slumped to a .250 batting mark in 131 games, led to his October 14, 1952, trade to the Cincinnati Reds for three players.
Bell hit home runs in three consecutive At bat on May 29, 1956. During the 1956 season, Bell, Ted Kluszewski and Bob Thurman became the second trio of teammates each to have three-home run games in the same season. The feat had been accomplished by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950 (Duke Snider, Roy Campanella and Tommy Brown) and subsequently was equaled by the Cleveland Indians in 1987 (Cory Snyder, Joe Carter and Brook Jacoby).
In , Bell and six of his teammates – Ed Bailey, Johnny Temple, Roy McMillan, Don Hoak, Wally Post and Frank Robinson — were voted to the National League All-Star starting lineup, the result of a ballot stuffing campaign by Cincinnati fans. Bell remained on the team as a reserve, but Post was taken off altogether due to injury. Bell and Post were replaced as starters by Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. Bell entered the game as a pinch hitter for Robinson in the seventh and drove in both Mays and Bailey with a double against Early Wynn.
Bell's last season as a regular outfielder was , when he started 122 of the Reds' 154 games. In 1961, his final year with Cincinnati, he was a part-time player (starting 54 games) on the Reds' first pennant-winning team in 21 years. In the 1961 World Series, Bell was called on to pinch hit in Games 3, 4 and 5 and went hitless in three at bats. One day after the conclusion of the Fall Classic, won by the New York Yankees four games to one, Bell was the eighth overall selection in the primary phase of the National League expansion draft by the New York Mets.
On what would have been Bell's 83rd birthday – November 15, 2011 – he was inducted into the Louisville Catholic Sports Hall of Fame, with a speech by his grandson David.
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