On this day in 1947, Jerry Houston Bell was born in Madison, Tennessee. He was 21 years old when the Seattle Pilots selected him in the second round of the 1969 January draft and two years later he made his major league debut as a member of the Brewers, joining the team as a September callup.
Bell played parts of four seasons in Milwaukee between 1971 and 1974, working primarily as a reliever but making 25 starts in 1973. He was really pretty effective (3.28 ERA in 283 innings), but he was sent back to the minors after five appearances in 1974 and had an awful season, moving himself off the big league radar. He was done as a major leaguer at age 26, and pitched just one more year in the minors.
While he was with the team, though, Bell was pretty good. Among pitchers with at least 250 major league innings, only six Brewers have lower career ERAs:
| Pitcher | IP | ERA |
| Ken Sanders | 321 | 2.21 |
| Rollie Fingers | 259 | 2.54 |
| Bill Castro | 411 | 2.96 |
| Mike Fetters | 334.1 | 2.99 |
| Bob Wickman | 315 | 3.20 |
| Dan Plesac | 524.1 | 3.21 |
| Jerry Bell | 283 | 3.28 |
Bell turns 64 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday to:
- 1998-2003 Brewer Valerio de los Santos, who turns 39.
- Seattle Pilot Jerry Stephenson, who turns 68.