Heath Bell

Heath Justin Bell (born September 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher.

Bell attended Santa Ana College where he was named a freshman All-American in 1997.

In 1997 Bell made two appearances in the National Baseball Congress world series while playing for the El Dorado Broncos.

He was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 69th round of the 1997 amateur draft, but did not sign.

Bell did not begin his professional career until 1998, when he signed with the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent.

For the year, Bell had a career-high 47 saves, which ranked second in MLB and was second in team history behind Hoffman's 53 in 1998.

Bell's .940 save percentage (47 of 50) led all of MLB.

He did not allow any of his nine inherited runners to score, and he had six saves of more than one inning pitched.

Bell won the Delivery Man of the Year Award, The Sporting News NL Reliever of the Year Award, and the NL Rolaids Relief Man Award.

He began his professional career with the New York Mets, making his major league debut in 2004, and spending three seasons at both the minor and major league levels.

He made his major league debut on August 24, 2004, pitching two scoreless innings with three strikeouts against the San Diego Padres.

The righty spent the next two seasons shuttling between the Mets and their Triple-A affiliate Norfolk.

Bell said coaches in the Mets' minor leagues told him his best opportunity to succeed was to leave the organization as other people did not believe in him.

On November 15, 2006, Bell was traded to San Diego, along with pitcher Royce Ring, for outfielder Ben Johnson and relief pitcher Jon Adkins.

He was part of the Padres bullpen, where he replaced Scott Linebrink as the 8th inning setup man before Trevor Hoffman closed games.

In 2007, he was traded to San Diego, where he was a setup man before replacing Trevor Hoffman as the Padres' closer.

As a closer with the San Diego Padres from 2009 to 2011, Bell was a three-time All-Star and twice won the Rolaids Relief Man Award.

He was also awarded the Delivery Man of the Year Award and The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award.

Bell played multiple sports, including baseball, in high school.

He moved on to community college, where he was an All-American.

In 2009, Hoffman signed with the Milwaukee Brewers and Bell was promoted to closer.

Bell sprints from the bullpen and into a save situation accompanied by the song "Blow Me Away" by Breaking Benjamin.

Bell's save situations are referred to by fans as "Bell's Hell", a play on Hoffman's famous "Hells Bells".

In 2009, Bell received the Delivery Man of the Month Award in April after converting all eight of his save opportunities in 8 2⁄3 scoreless innings of work while striking out nine batters.

He was named to the National League (NL) All-Star Team on July 5.

He, along with teammate Adrián González, represented the Padres at the 2009 MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis on July 14.

Bell came on in the 8th inning and gave up a triple to Curtis Granderson followed by a sacrifice fly to Adam Jones to make the score 4–3 in the American League's favor; Bell was the losing pitcher in the game.

Bell ended the 2009 season leading the National League in saves with 42 in his first year as a full-time closer.

He won the NL Rolaids Relief Man Award

From 2010 through 2011, Bell successfully converted 41 straight save opportunities, which tied Hoffman's team record.

In 2010, Bell was named to his second consecutive NL All-Star team in July.

Starting May 29, he converted 34 consecutive saves to end the season, the longest streak by a Padres since Hoffman.

Bell collected saves on a season-high four consecutive days from August 10–13.

A free agent after the 2011 season, he signed with the Miami Marlins, and later played with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays.

He did not give up any runs and was named the league's Graduate of the Year in 2011.

Bell was the highest paid Padres player in 2011 at $7.5 million salary and would be eligible for free agency at the end of the season.

He retired before the 2015 season.

Bell was born in Oceanside, California.

He attended Columbus Tustin Middle School and Tustin High School in Tustin, California, which is about 50 mi from Oceanside.

He lettered in football, basketball, and baseball.