Derek "Operation Shutdown" Bell

[King Kamala]

Whenever I hear of the Pittsburgh Pirates misfortunes over the past 15 years or so, I of course hear about them not resigning Barry Bonds but I hear about Derek Bell and "Operation Shutdown". I'd like to ask the baseball fans (and Pirates fans or lack thereof) What the hell was "Operation Shutdown"?

[CanadianChris]

He thought he should be the starting right fielder without having to compete for the job in spring training, and said that he wouldn't risk injury competing for the job. He called it "Operation Shutdown."

 

This despite hitting only .173 the year before.

[King Kamala]

That's hillarious but why was it such a detriment to the Pirates? Did they sign Bell to a huge contract?

[Rob E Dangerously]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0318/1353807.html

 

"One sportswriter had a great comment on his release. He said Derek was a perfect Pirate, he lived on a boat and stole money."

 

--

 

"I will never forget derek bell's pitching appearance against the padres in august of 2000. The Mets were down by approximately 10 runs when d-bell took the mound. His first pitch floated around 45 mph, a pitch bell called "eephus." Bell gave up 5 runs, but amazingly kept a straight face.

 

overall, not much of a hitter (or pitcher), great defender, but didn't contribute all that much. Great sense of humor, though."

 

"I'll always remember two things about Derek. First thing was when Clemens hit Piazza with the fast ball and Derek stood at the top of the dugout with the stupidest looking face on yelling at Clemens. Next is Derek's "Cy Young" performance. I just hope that other pitchers wear big doofy sunglasses when they pitch."

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

That about covers the story. Bell wasn't given the right fielder's job, so he threatened not to give any effort. The Pirates essentially called his bluff, and Bell never again played professional baseball.

 

Another Derek Bell moment. As a rookie with the Toronto Blue Jays, Bell was subject to a rookie rib. The Blue Jays announced a giveaway promotion, and another player drove Bell's van onto the field as the winning prize.

[sfaJack]

Ah, Derek Bell.

 

The "giveaway promotion" was hilarious. I saw it replayed once on ESPN, and laughed my ass off.

 

My most memorable Derek Bell tantrum came in 1998 (or '99...I don't remember exactly) when he was playing here for the Astros. Bell was off to another of his fabulous starts, hitting like .200 a month or so into the season. Larry Dierker demoted him in the order, dropping him from fourth to sixth. Bell complained incessantly, saying how could he perform up to his standards hitting that low. Dierker relented, putting him in the #2 slot, between Biggio and Bagwell (when both were in their primes). Bell went on to have a pretty big year hitting in that greatly protected spot and then declared himself amongst the greatest in the game. It was rather hilarious.

[LooseCannon25]

I remember it was I believe the 99 season where The Mets (my team) were playing the Astros in a 4 game series in the Astrodome. In I believe the third game of the series it was extra innings game tied in the bottom of the 11th and Bell at bat. Bell hits a moon shot of a home run which was way out of here, and when they play the replay it show's Bell's face and you could read his lips saying "OH MY GOD" with this dumb ass look like he was astonished at how hard he hit the ball. The shit was hilarious to me even though he beat my team.

[lomasmoney]

Operation Shutdown is still so damn funny, I wish he was still around