Baseball Obsession Shadle Senior George Bell Hopes His Future Is Bright On The Diamond

Even though the temperature has been well below freezing, even though there is a ton of snow on the ground, and even though it is basketball season, Shadle Park senior George Bell is practicing baseball.

That’s right, baseball. The sport normally associated with spring and summer. And warmth.

But Bell is obsessed with the game. So obsessed that even in the middle of basketball season - and Bell is a starter on the Highlanders’ basketball team - he is routinely working on his hitting and fielding.

Bell has had a baseball practice to go to since last March. That’s when practice begins around the Greater Spokane League.

Last season, Bell was named to the all-GSL team as a catcher after hitting .370 and leading the league in doubles (11).

But after the GSL season finished, the American Legion season began and Bell played for the Spokane Blue Devils. After the Legion season ended, he started practicing with the Spokane Hurricanes, a select team he plans on playing with next summer.

There are clinics to go to, as well as more practices with the Hurricanes.

The GSL season, of course, awaits him in the spring.

Add it all up, and you’ll get a lot of baseball.

“It’s something you love,” Bell said. ”You go out and do it every day.”

You see, Bell is working this hard because he hopes to keep playing baseball. For a long time.

“I just think it’s like a dream to keep going,” he said.

So far, things aren’t going half bad. A few college teams have contacted him; a few pro teams are aware he exists.

And he’s hoping to really open some eyes by having a superb 2001 season. Bell talks of batting .500 this season.

Currently, Bell is pulling double time with baseball practices and basketball practices.

Bell, at about 6-foot-2, isn’t the tallest post player in the GSL, but he often ends up guarding some of the skyscrapers that play in the league. “He ends up guarding the biggest guy on the team,” Shadle Park basketball coach Darcy Weisner said. “We just put him in there and give him a pretty tough post assignment.”

It works out well.

Bell uses his bulky frame to muscle people around in the key. He brings a football mentality, he says, to the basketball court.

Bell, 18, has been a versatile athlete for the Highlanders’ football team the last three seasons, playing on the offensive and defensive line, playing some tight end and even kicking. He earned honorable mention all-GSL for his defensive line play after the 2000 season.

Bell started playing defense his sophomore year, when it became obvious his talents were wasted just kicking. In his first varsity game he recorded three sacks against Ferris, he said.

With all that baseball, basketball and football, it’s clear that sports tend to dominate Bell’s life. Heck, even his job is sports related. Bell works as a section leader at the Spokane Arena during Spokane Chiefs hockey games, helping fans find their seats, among other duties.

It’s not a bad gig, really, getting paid to watch hockey.

And if Bell’s dreams come true, he could be paid to play baseball.