By: Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Larry Walker was a practical joker in his days with the Expos and many other teams but teammate Juan Bell one-upped him one day in 1994.

The Expos were steam-rolling through most of that season before the strike and there was a lot of camaraderie among the players.

Walker had a reputation for belching, breaking up interviews other players were doing and he would play jokes on players getting treatment by the trainers.

"A lot of times, some of the players would put bubble gum on the top of other players' hats. Walker used to do that to me,'' Bell told me back in 2012. "One time in Pittsburgh, I did it back to him and he got mad. Everybody was laughing.

"Why did you do that to me?'' Walker shouted at Bell. "You can't do that to me.''

Chuckling, Bell told me, "He was angry, mad at me but that's what made it fun.''

Bell played a small part on that Expos' team in '94, an infielder, who batted .278 in 97 at-bats with two homers and 10 RBI.

Bell, 48, died of kidney failure in his home country of the Dominican Republic Aug. 24. He was the younger brother of outfielder George Bell, who played close to 10 seasons with the Blue Jays.

Juan Bell never lived up to the lofty expectations the Dodgers had for him when legendary scout Ralph Avila signed him when he was 16.

“I saw a lot of potential in Tito,’’ Avila told me earlier this week. “He and George were good players. They played different positions. Different tools for different positions. They came from a baseball family. Their father George Vinicio was a semi-pro player.

“Tito was not as strong as George. George was the best of the two. He was bigger and stronger. Tito didn’t have the strength George had. Tito was a very good player, but he had a quick temper. That was his main problem, a quick temper.’’

George was 6-foot-1 and weighed about 190, Juan was 5-foot-11 and weighed about 170. George was a full-time player, Juan a part-timer, a platoon player.

After spending four seasons in Los Angeles’ minor-league system, Bell was involved in the trade that sent Orioles legend Eddie Murray to the Dodgers. In exchange for Murray, the Orioles received Bell and relievers Brian Holton and Ken Howell.

Juan played parts of seven seasons in the majors and finished up in the Blue Jays’ minor-league system in the late 1990s after a stint in Taiwan arranged by Avila.

Avila said Bell had three children, ages 7, 10 and 14. Our condolences go out to his family.