He played in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, New York Mets, and Pittsburgh Pirates from 1991 to 2001.

He emerged as a top prospect with the Myrtle Beach Blue Jays the next year, when he was named to the South Atlantic League All-Star team.

Although he continued to advance, Bell struggled for the next two seasons, batting .242 at AA in 1989 and .261 at AAA the next year, but drawing walks at an extremely low rate.

[2] Toronto won its division that year and advanced to the World Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves in six games to capture its first championship.

During a break between innings, they announced that a vehicle would be given to a lucky fan, and then outfielder Joe Carter (accompanied by Dave Winfield) drove Bell's green Ford Explorer out onto the field.

[3] Shortly before the beginning of the 1993 season, the Blue Jays traded Bell and Stoney Briggs to the San Diego Padres, in exchange for veteran outfielder Darrin Jackson.

Along with Bell, the Padres sent Doug Brocail, Ricky Gutiérrez, Pedro A. Martínez, Phil Plantier, and Craig Shipley to Houston, receiving in return Ken Caminiti, Andújar Cedeño, Steve Finley, Roberto Petagine, Brian Williams, and Sean Fesh.

This group of players helped lead the franchise to a new level of success that included a string of playoff appearances and second-place finishes that commenced in the 1990s.

After the Killer B's had gained national attention, journalist Dayn Perry cheerfully noted in 1999 that the Astros, "in pursuit of arcane history, used eight players whose last names began with 'B.

'"[7] including Bagwell, Paul Bako, Glen Barker, Bell, Sean Bergman, Lance Berkman, Biggio, and Tim Bogar.

[8] However, Bell's performance slipped substantially that year, and his .236 batting average and .656 OPS made him considered to be one of the worst everyday players in the league.

Dierker had returned to the field that day after having recovered from a near-fatal grand mal seizure during a game on June 13 and subsequent emergency brain surgery.

At that point, the Astros viewed Bell as an expensive liability, and on December 23, they traded him and star pitcher Mike Hampton to the New York Mets for Roger Cedeño, Octavio Dotel, and Kyle Kessel.

Still, this only raised his 2001 big-league average to .173, and Bell did not play an MLB game after July 3, when he managed a hit and two walks in a win over Cincinnati; this would turn out to be his last major league appearance.

[13] New York Post writer Tom Keegan described the incident by calling Bell "the perfect Pirate given that he lives on a boat and steals money.