After an 18-year career with four teams, most notably the Cleveland Indians, the Texas Rangers, and the Cincinnati Reds, he managed the Detroit Tigers, Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Royals for three seasons each and served as Vice President/Assistant General Manager for the Chicago White Sox.

The 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), 185 lb (84 kg) Bell was a solid, but not overpowering, right-handed hitter on a mostly lackluster Indians team.

After the 1978 season Bell was traded to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Toby Harrah — another solid, veteran third baseman.

In Total zone runs (a defensive statistic) he is ninth all time (ahead of Willie Mays) and 2nd among all third baseman (behind Brooks Robinson).

On May 31, 2005, the Kansas City Royals hired Bell as their manager, three weeks after Tony Peña resigned.

Bell had experienced difficulty swallowing in the previous weeks,[3] and went to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, following the advice of Royals medical staff.

Bell stated that his decision was his own, not based on pressure from the Royals front office, and that he wished to spend more time with his family.