James “Cool Papa” Bell was one of the greatest stars of the Negro Leagues, and a player reputed to be the fastest man of all-time on the base paths. Bell played for 25 seasons during the era of segregation in baseball, beginning his career in 1922 and retiring in 1946. Bell played for several legendary teams, including the Homestead Grays and Los Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo of the Dominican League. Bell was the fifth Negro Leagues player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Offered here are a pair of cleats worn by Bell during the 1945 season when he was with the Homestead Grays. In 82 plate appearances for the then-42-year-old Bell, he batted .380 and drew 11 walks. These black cleats display heavy game use with significant wear on the toes. The bottoms of these shoes have six metal spikes on each cleat with signs of cracking on the hard rubber. “10” is printed on the tongue on the right shoe. A great game used items from one of the legendary figures in baseball history and these come with a LOA signed by Cool Papa Bell as part of a private collection sold on July 18, 1979 and a LOA from J.T. Sports for the game use.

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