Monday, October 21, 2013
Hundreds celebrate Wally Bell’s life, legacy
By Ryan Buck
rbuck @vindy.com
Austintown
Mourners filled the Fitch High auditorium Sunday afternoon to honor Austintown native and longtime Major League Baseball umpire Wally Bell, who died Oct. 14 of a heart ailment at the age of 48.
Family, friends and numerous colleagues, including more than 30 MLB umpires and league executives, were present for the hour-long service.
Bell’s mentor and longtime colleague John Hirschbeck, who will be a part of the MLB crew umpiring the 2013 World Series, fondly recalled the days he came to know his pupil.
Hirschbeck and his wife had just returned to Youngstown after years spent away and wanted to raise their children closer to extended family. Bell, who was starting to build a promising career in the minor leagues, sought out Hirschbeck for advice by cold-calling the Poland native at his home.
Hirschbeck, then a new father, sincerely encouraged the young umpire to keep in touch and seek him out for advice any time he ever needed it.
When he gave Bell his home address he did not expect a knock at the door at 9 a.m. the next morning, but Hirschbeck brought him inside and a 25-year friendship began.
“He never called me ‘Mr. Hirschbeck’ and he never rang the doorbell again,” said Hirschbeck.
In his closing remarks, Hirschbeck referenced a poem by Linda Ellis entitled “The Dash.”
There are three things we see on everyone’s tombstone and we are only responsible for one of them, Hirschbeck said. They are the day of birth, the day of death, and the dash that separates them.
“We determine how we fill it in and how we live our own lives,” Hirschbeck said. “Wally Bell truly filled that dash.”
Bell’s friend and umpiring colleague of 14 years, Marvin Hudson, described a night on the road where he fell asleep to Bell teaching his grandson how to use a tablet computer. He awoke two hours later to find the two still playing a children’s game.
Another friend from the profession, Teddy Barrett, explained the friendship they forged during their years together. Barrett, who is also a Christian minister with a master’s degree in Biblical Studies, says Bell helped him enrich his public-speaking skills.
“We’re a tight-knit group,” Barrett said of MLB umpires. “We often said [‘love ya’]. But [Bell] didn’t just say it. He meant it.”
Joe Torre, the league’s executive vice president for baseball operations, was in attendance. A nine-time All-Star as a player, Torre is best known as the manager of four MLB franchises, most notably the New York Yankees. He came to know Bell on the field and in his current position as his supervisor.
“I’ve been at my job now at MLB for about three years and that’s one thing I’ve discovered, pleasantly, that these umpires are that close,” Torre said. “It was very easy because I’ve always believed in teamwork and I certainly get that on a regular basis and they care about each other. We can’t go through life by ourselves. We need help and I’m very proud of how they go about their business, how they feel about each other.”
Doyle Sutherland, Bell’s cousin, recalled family holidays and delivered a promise to Bell’s children that their father’s extended family would be there for them.
Scott Jones, Bell’s lifelong friend, and a teammate on Fitch’s 1983 state runner-up baseball team, moderated the ceremony.
Jones described Bell’s fun-loving ways, his devotion to his family and a playful sense of humor. He ended his remembrance by playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Terry’s Song,” and sang aloud the song’s climactic final line:
“When they built you, brother, they broke the mold.”