Card Statistics
George “Farmer” Bell is shown in Helmar’s T3 series with Brooklyn in the easy finish of a pitching motion, walking off the mound with his glove hanging at his side and his throwing arm relaxed across his body. The pale Brooklyn uniform is set off by deep blue stockings and cap, while the expansive green field and brilliant yellow-blue sky give the composition an open, almost pastoral character. The pose is understated, but it suits a workhorse pitcher whose value came from durability and repeated complete-game efforts rather than spectacle.
The original artwork was painted by Natalia Valiukavich in watercolor. She models Bell’s uniform with pale cream, gray, and cool blue washes, concentrating the darkest values in the cap, stockings, glove, and folds of the clothing. The broad field is kept relatively simple, while the distant fence, advertising panels, and low buildings are reduced to small muted shapes. Above them, the sky carries much of the color, with blue, gold, and violet washes creating a luminous backdrop behind the figure.
George Glenn “Farmer” Bell pitched his entire major-league career for Brooklyn from 1907 through 1911. A right-hander who arrived in the majors at age thirty-two, Bell quickly became one of the club’s most heavily used pitchers. He threw 263⅔ innings as a rookie and worked 310 innings in 1910. His strongest season came in 1909, when he went 16–15 with a 2.71 earned-run average and completed 29 of his 30 starts. Over five seasons he appeared in 160 games, completed 92 starts, threw 17 shutouts, and finished with a 2.85 career ERA. (Baseball Reference)
Numbered #99, the Bell card brings another genuine Deadball Era workhorse into the Brooklyn portion of the T3 checklist. Unlike the later Brooklyn stars represented elsewhere in the series, Bell belongs to the Superbas years, giving the team grouping greater chronological depth. His unusually high totals for complete games and innings also make the card a useful reminder of how differently pitchers were employed in the first decade of the twentieth century.
Produced in Helmar’s distinctive handcrafted tradition, the card combines original watercolor artwork with a substantial but often overlooked Brooklyn pitcher and a particularly atmospheric full-length composition.
Original watercolor artwork by Natalia Valiukavich.
- Description: throwing follow through
- Team: Brooklyn Superbas
- Population (# Sold): 14
- First Date Sold: 2021-05-25
- Latest Date Sold: 2025-09-28
- Card Status: Active
- # Sold in past year: 1
- Highest Auction: $ 45.99
- Average Auction Result: $ 16.54
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Visit these teammates on the Brooklyn Superbas in the T3-Helmar series
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