"She definitely put up with a lot," Bell said. "She had to take care of me and my brother and my dad, and she never ever once complained about it."
In turn, Bell didn't use family tragedy as the reason his senior season suffered or as an explanation for why he fell into the fourth round of the 2005 amateur draft.
"I'd never use it as an excuse," Bell said. "When I look back on it, there are times when I'd want to take a day off or take time off to do this or that. But I know he'd always want me to keep playing and to do this to make him proud."
* * *
Bell has already faced his share of challenges. One by one, he tackles them.
"It's all made him stronger," his mother said.
Last season, he was shut down in May and needed left knee surgery to repair a small divot in his cartilage. The time off, he said, sharpened his desire to succeed.
In 2007, he came home from the Hawaii Winter League, stepped onto a scale and weighed a whopping 245 pounds. He gave up fast food, began running five miles every other day and dropped 30 pounds by the next spring training.
Last month, after batting .296 with 11 home runs and 52 RBIs for Double-A Chattanooga and earning Most Valuable Player of the Southern League All-Star Game, he was traded.
He was forced to leave the only organization he knew, where all his friends were. But Bell, whose game has been compared to former Oriole Bobby Bonilla's, sees it as a career blessing. With Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora a free agent at season's end, Bell's path to the majors is clear if he stays healthy and produces.
So far, so good. He twisted his ankle shortly after joining Bowie, but he has played through it - and has shown a potent bat, collecting 10 hits, including two doubles and two homers, in his first 23 at-bats for the Baysox (.435 average).
Bell doesn't believe any challenge is too much for him now. And if that confidence wavers, he'll glance at his right, dominant arm, to the tattoo of Jesus Christ and an angel.
Or to the cross with his father's initials.
"There are so many things that happen in life, and some are not the best things," he said. "The way I look at it is nothing worse can happen to me. Anything that happens to me now is just a small step I have to get over."
ANGELS @ORIOLES
Tonight, 7:05
TV: MASN2
Radio: 105.7 FM
INSIDE
Scouting report PG 6
