Cool Papa Bell

James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 – March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder and pitcher in Negro league baseball and the Mexican League, playing from 1922 to 1946. He is considered to have been one of the fastest men ever to play the game.

Bell was born in Starkville, Mississippi, to Jonas Bell and Mary Nichols, the fourth of seven children. As a teenager, he worked at the creamery at Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College, now Mississippi State University, and at the school's agricultural experiment station. At the age of 17, he moved to St. Louis to live with older brothers and attend high school, though he spent most of his time playing baseball in the neighborhood rather than attending the night school he had planned on. His brother Fred Bell also played baseball.

Over a career spanning Negro league baseball and the Mexican League, Bell compiled the most career games played by any player in the Negro Major Leagues, with 1,202. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. In 1999, he ranked 66th on a list of the greatest baseball players published by The Sporting News.