E10: Cool Papa Bell & The Trajekt Pitching Machine

What if you could step into the batting cage and face tonight’s starter without burning a single pitch? We open with the Trajekt machine, the AI-powered pitching system transforming batting practice by recreating big-league arms with lifelike release points, spin, and sequencing. From a gunpowder “cannon” in 1897 to arm-style throwers to modern programmable wheels, training tech has always chased the same target: shrink reaction time and make better swing decisions. Trajekt raises the bar, even with its limits on knuckleballs and a missing view of the pitcher’s hand. MLB’s shift to allow offline use during games turned pre-at-bat reps into a real advantage, though its price, heft, and home-park constraint keep it elite and controversial.

Then we pivot from new code to old lore with Cool Papa Bell, the Negro Leagues legend whose speed turned bunts into doubles and panic into runs. Born in Mississippi, Bell moved from pitcher to switch-hitting center fielder, leveraging a left-side jump to beat throws and beat expectations. He won titles with the St. Louis Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords, and Homestead Grays, navigated the turbulence of leagues folding, and even played under the watchful eye of Trujillo’s regime in the Dominican Republic before starring in Mexico. Teammates and rivals spun stories as quick as his feet: Satchel Paige’s quips, first-to-third on bunts, and the famous note that Jesse Owens wouldn’t race him. Stats from that era are scattered, but the pattern is clear—Bell mastered timing, angles, and nerve, and later earned his Hall of Fame place with humility intact.

Across both halves runs a single thread: the fight to win a fraction of a second. Trajekt simulates it; Bell lived inside it. We connect training science to baseball history, weighing fair play, cost, and culture while celebrating the craft of reading spin and the courage to run on contact. If you love hitting mechanics, baseball technology, Negro Leagues history, and tall tales that might just be true, this one’s for you. If it made you think or smile, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review—what surprised you most?

Email us at fungosandfastballs@gmail.com

Transcript

Meet The Trajekt Machine

Jerry 0:00

Our first pitch today is a discussion of a product that you may have heard about, although it's pretty recent, the traject machine. Now don't worry, here at Fungos and Fastballs, we are not going to pitch a certain product.

Brooke 0:14

Unless they pay us.

Wild History Of Pitching Machines

Jerry 0:16

Yeah, we're not above doing that. But I'm not thinking many of our listeners are going to be swayed, Brooke, to go out and buy a traject machine. In fact, they're really not for sale for the general public, and more on that later. So the traject is being used in most major league clubhouses and even some college ball teams currently. It's a pitching machine, and man, is it fancy. First, let's get into some history of the pitching machine. Brooke, when would you have guessed that the first pitching machine ever came out?

Brooke 0:47

I'll guess back in the 40s.

Jerry 0:49

You know, that's a good guess. I would have probably guessed the late 20s, but boy were we way off. Actually, the first pitching machine dates back to 1897, so 130 years ago, even before the American League.

Brooke 1:02

But electricity was barely around back then.

Jerry 1:06

Well, electricity has always been around. It was just discovered lately. Ah, funny. But this thing didn't need electricity because it was powered by get this, gunpowder. Oh. And actually, if you see pictures of it, it resembles a mini cannon, but it can actually vary speeds of pitches and even mimic curveballs. This pitching machine was designed for Princeton University's baseball team by mathematician Charles Howard Hinton. And it actually may have resulted in several injuries. And no surprise there. Now, random trivia about Charles Hinton. He actually coined the term Tesserac, which you math scholars know is a four-dimensional cube. But the term might be more commonly known from sci-fi books like A Wrinkle in Time or movies like Interstellar.

Brooke 1:53

Well, I'm not a math scholar, but I do recall a Tesserac holding the space stone, I think it was, in the Marvel movies, and constantly Loki trying to steal it. But back to baseball, or at least back to the Tradect machine.

Jerry 2:08

Yeah, this is our uh frame of reference to just all movies. Yes, Marvel. I can't say my math skills at least are great. So pitching machines did continue in advance. There was an arm type of pitching machine designed in 1952 where a metal arm simulated the motion of a pitcher. And eventually electric wheel pitching machines came out and they can adjust speeds, pitch types, greater accuracy. And we see those today even. We were recently in San Diego, and they had a pitching machine on the field that you could bring your gloves and catch balls from.

Brooke 2:39

Yeah, we did. Yeah, that was pretty interesting.

Jerry 2:41

I forgot my gloves, sadly.

Brooke 2:42

Yeah, and you were not barehanding it, trust me. No.

MLB Adoption And Costs

Jerry 2:46

Now, more recently, technology has allowed programmable pitching machines on the market. And you can program pitch types, sequences, and even they have pre-programmed pitchers, custom pitchers. It can pitch to any part of the zone up to about 100 miles per hour. Now, the Traject Company was launched in 2019, and the first one was purchased by the Cubs in 2021. By the next year, seven Major League Baseball teams had it. And each year, more teams use this technology so that about 26 out of 30 teams had one in, at least one in 2025. Now, the Nationals are one of those holdouts, and that should surprise no one who's a Nats fan because they're so darn cheap. What were they, 25th out of 30 in team payroll last year? Well, maybe Brooke can post a picture of this fancy traject machine on social media.

Brooke 3:37

Where do you think I'm posting these pictures? Um, wherever you post these things? Social media. Just social media in general. Okay. Check out Instagram and Facebook, and I'm told I need to get on TikTok.

How Trajekt Replicates Pitchers

Limits, Rules, And In-Game Use

Size, Travel, And Budget Realities

Jerry 3:51

Well, the machine is pretty cool. It moves side to side on a track and can replicate different pitch types, release points, velocities, spin rates. And you know, the amazing thing about it, because you had programmable pitch machines earlier, but it uses AI to assemble every pitcher and reliever in the league and analyzes their films. And basically, you can pitch against any pitcher. It varies the pitch sequences by pitchers, it displays a picture of the pitcher. Now that's tough to say. Let's try that again. It displays a picture of the pitcher on the machine so that you see his wind up and throw. Now, pretty impressive technology. I've heard two downsides. One is that knuckleballs are difficult to recreate because there's minimal spin on knuckleballs. There's not that many knuckleball pitchers. So uh the other thing is that you really can't see the pitcher's hand position because there's a hole there where the pitch comes to you. And that's very important when batters analyze a pitch as it comes out of the pitcher's hand. In 2024, Major League Baseball actually allowed it to be used by teams in games where you could practice in the batting tunnels, you know, before you're at bat. Pitchers were not really happy with that. Previously, it required an internet connection to operate, and you can't use something with an internet connection because that's a violation of baseball's sign stealing policy. But then it was modified to work offline, and so now it can be used in games. Now it's it's very big, so you're not going to really take it on the road, so only home teams benefit it. Pitchers really are not happy that you could you know practice against them in game. But you know what? League batting average in 2019 when the company launched was 253, last year's league batting average 244. So don't cry for pitchers that much. So, Brooke, I mentioned earlier that we're really not pitching one of these machines for sale. Haha. That's clever. Because our listeners are not gonna really get one anytime soon. First of all, the cost. It's $15,000 to $20,000 per month to lease the machine, and you need a three-year commitment. Many teams actually have multiple machines up to six, so that runs into a lot of money. I mean, with a three-year lease brook at $20,000 a month, that's like a million-dollar commitment every team has to make.

Brooke 6:26

Oh boy. No, that's like a $4.3 million commitment for six machines.

Jerry 6:32

See, I told you math was not our strength. So the size of these are large. That's what she said. Yes, indeed, and bulky. Uh, it's six feet wide, four feet deep, and it's twelve hundred pounds. So again, you really can't travel with it, and so home teams use it.

Brooke 6:51

Would that go in the first class area or travel coach?

Jerry 6:55

You need those extra legs, that extra leggo for the traject machine. So, Brooke, you'll be happy to know that despite my penchant for spending our money on baseball cards, bats, bobbleheads, I think you're safe from me buying one here. After all, where would we put it?

Brooke 7:11

Uh, probably where we put the elliptical machine and the Peloton machine.

Jerry 7:18

I get it. I guess I'll just have to settle for my fungo drills, tossing the ball up in the air and hitting it.

Brooke 7:24

All right. That's a good idea. Let's just start this program.

Enter Cool Papa Bell

Jerry 7:37

Hello and welcome to Fungos and Fastballs, the podcast of baseball history and trivia. I'm your host, Jerry Dynes, and each episode will be a snapshot into America's pastime. Maybe it'll be a player, a tradition, a stadium, a rule, or some random fun aspect of the game. So let's get on to today's topic. A trivia question. Who has a bronze statue outside of Bush Stadium in St. Louis, despite never playing for the Cardinals? And who is in the Washington Nationals' Ring of Honor despite never playing for the Expos or the Nationals? Now you might think from the wording, I'm talking about executive or manager, but nope, it's a player. This same player, to bring in some more trivia, is actually the title of a Paul Simon song. No, it's not Joe DiMaggio. Where has he gone? I don't know. He was here a second ago. No, Jolton Joe's song is Mrs. Robinson. The description on this player on his Cooperstown Hall of Fame plaque says, quote, contemporaries rated him fastest man on the bass paths. Now the answer to this question takes us back to a legendary player of the Negro Leagues, Cool Papa Bell, who was a pitcher, then a center fielder, playing for 24 years between 1922 and 1946. And I do mean legendary because we're going to discuss some of his tales, believable and hyperbolic. Known for his speed, James Thomas Bell was born in Starkville, Mississippi in 1903, moving to St. Louis at age 17 to live with his older brother and attend high school, but most of that time he really just skipped school and played baseball, moving up to the major leagues in 1922 as a teenager at 19. Now, Cool Papa sounds like the nickname of an old jazz musician, but Bell actually received his nickname while a teen. He was playing for the St. Louis Stars and struck out future Hall of Famer Oscar Charleston, which wasn't an easy feat. Charleston was killer in the 1920s. He won the hitting triple crown three times. We definitely need to do an episode, Brooke, on Oscar Charleston.

Brooke 9:45

Oh, babe, that notebook is full. And now I'm onto sticky notes.

Jerry 9:50

Well, we could just buy some extra.

Brooke 9:51

No, no, no, no, no. Stop. We're not buying anything. Back to Cool Papa Bell.

From Pitcher To Switch-Hitting Speedster

Jerry 9:55

Okay. So after this teen struck out Charleston, he was called Cool, but Papa was added later, probably by his manager, Bill Gatewood, to show his veteran-like maturity, despite his youth. Now, after an injury to his pitching arm, Cool Papa moved to center field. And originally a lefty thrower who batted righty, he learned to switch hit. Known, as I mentioned earlier, for his great speed, able to bat lefty, he could actually reach first quicker. Here's a fun fact: left-handed batters actually reach base about 0.1 to 0.14 seconds faster than right-handed batters because they start one stride length closer to first. And the momentum of the swing of a left-handed batter naturally carries them towards the bag. A righty swing momentum takes you away from first base. Think about that next time you're at the batting cages. Hey, Brooke, that reminds me. We got to do that. Maruchi Sports is in town. They have batting cages. Let's go.

Brooke 10:56

If I'm going with you, I'm going to be sore for a week. That's using some new muscles there.

Jerry 11:02

That makes no anatomical sense. You've had those muscles forever.

Brooke 11:05

Yeah, and let's not tell the listeners how many years I've had those muscles. Just remember, we're the same age.

Jerry 11:11

True. So Bell helped lead the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League to three league titles in 1928, 30, and 31. Now, as was frequently the case in the Negro Leagues, teams and even leagues folded. And in the Great Depression, the Negro National League folded right after that. So Bell moved over to the Detroit Wolves in the East-West League, which didn't even last a year. Still, in that year, the 1932 Wolves were a killer team with five future baseball Hall of Famers, including great nickname alert, shortstop Willie the Devil Wells. Yeah, it reminds me, Brooke. Weren't we going to start calling me the nickname Chip after our Chipper Jones episode? What happened with that?

Brooke 11:55

Yeah, we had a family vote and it didn't pass.

Jerry 12:00

Oh, darn it. Well, I got to think of another cool nickname for myself. How about T-Bone?

Brooke 12:06

Yeah, T-Bone. That's gonna catch on.

Jerry 12:08

It could. Hey T-Bone!

Brooke 12:09

No.

Titles, Teams, And Tall Tales

Jerry 12:10

Our Seinfeld love there. Well, anyway, after the Wolves, Bell returned to the Reformed Negro National League to the Pittsburgh Crawfords or Cross, named actually after the Crawford bathhouses. We don't name enough teams these days after bathhouses. So that team includes the aforementioned Charleston, oh, good word, aforementioned, good SAT word, plus one of the greatest power hitters of all time, Josh Gibson, and one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Satchel Page. Amidst that history, we're gonna pepper in some quotes amidst, see, I'm I'm really bringing it today. There are some quotes and stories from Satchel who was known for them. And he said of Bell, one time he hit a line drive right past my ear, and I turned around and saw the ball hit him sliding into second. Well, the owner of the Crawfords, Gus Greenlee, didn't pay his players in 1937. So Bell, Page and the others went all the way to the Dominican Republic to play. Now, in a story also seen in Ken Burns essential Baseball documentary, the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo, organized a team thinking: hey, if I have a successful team, popular with the people, it'll cement my power as a leader. He actually kept the players under armed supervision. And one story after a loss is that they were visited by a Dominican army officer who warned them never to lose again and actually fired gunshots in the hotel courtyard. Oh my gosh, well, that'll do it. Well, Cool Papa's team did win the league, but not by enough in the dictator's mind to justify the higher salary. The league would fold, and there wouldn't be no organized baseball in the Dominican Republic for 12 years, which, considering how the DR loves baseball, that's quite a loss. Bell then went to the integrated Mexican League in 1938. He was the first Mexican League player to win the triple crown.

Brooke 14:07

Interesting.

DR And Mexico: Baseball Without A Map

Bunting To Third And Beyond

Jerry 14:07

And the Mexican League just, by the way, celebrated its 100th anniversary. This was the life of the Negro League player before Jackie Robinson. Locked out of the major leagues, they made their living, far less paid than white players, by bouncing around from team to team, league to league, playing constantly. Even winter ball in California, Cuba, Mexico. I'm going to include a story now from John Holway's book, Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues. Bell explains that he regularly went from first to third on a bunt simply just by not stopping as he rounded second and catching the third baseman off the bag, having charged the ball. Sometimes in the ensuing confusion, he had a broken play that allowed him to come all the way home. So, you know, imagine getting from first to home after a bunt. That's why catcher Ted Double Duty Radcliffe, another good nickname, told uh the author James Riley, if he bunts and it bounces twice, just put it in your back pocket. So Bell returned to the U.S. in 1942 and played a season for the Chicago American Giants before finishing his career with the Homestead Grays, which interestingly split its home games in the early 40s between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., nowhere near each other geographically. With the Grays, Bell played in three consecutive league championships, winning two in 43 and 44. Cool Papa finished his Major League career in 46 a year before Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier. After that, he continued as a player manager for Negro League farm teams. He was a scout for the St. Louis Browns, who we now know as the Orioles, and later in life a security guard and custodian for the St. Louis City Hall. So Bell finished his career. And mind you, Negro League stats, despite baseball historians' best efforts, are often inconsistent or incomplete. But he finished with the most career games by a player in the Negro Major Leagues with 1,202 and a career batting average at 325, which puts him 46th all time, behind Jimmy Foxx and ahead of Joltin' Joe DiMaggio. Coincidentally, the fellow we mentioned earlier in the Paul Simon song. Another tall tale, Satchel Page also said that Bell was so fast he could flip the light switch off and be in bed before the room went dark.

Brooke 16:28

That's funny.

Jerry 16:29

Bell was inducted into Cooperstown in 1974, the fifth Negro League player inducted after his friend Satchel Page, Josh Gibson, Monty Irvin, and Buck Leonard. Per his baseball Hall of Fame page, quote, he was a member of three of the greatest Negro League teams in history, winning three championships each with the Stars, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and the Homestead Grays. Now, as we've already seen, Cool Papa Bell was legendary for his speed, again, with an emphasis on legend with many fun tales.

Brooke 17:02

You know, Jerry, his speed reminds me of our first episode on Lou Brock.

Jerry 17:06

Well, actually, years after his retirement, Cool Papa Bell helped teach Lou the art of stealing bases.

Brooke 17:11

Excuse me, you're calling him Lou now?

Jerry 17:14

Well, touche.

Brooke 17:15

Check out our first episode for that inside joke and more about Lou Brock.

Homestead Grays And Final Years

Jerry 17:21

Though some of the tales we mentioned earlier do sound a bit tall, there's no doubt Bell was a speedster. He once claimed he was timed rounding the bases in 12 seconds. Now, the recent record for fastest inside the park home run is Byron Buxton for the Twins at 13.85 seconds. Now, people have done the calculations, and the perfect run under perfect conditions could theoretically break 13 seconds. So who knew if Bell was exaggerating?

Brooke 17:48

Who knew?

Stats, Hall, And Speed Myths

Jerry 17:50

Now, another story after the 1936 Olympics, gold medalist sprinter Jesse Owens returned home. He would have to actually race local runners or even horses to support himself. In the early 40s, Owens would go around to baseball games and would challenge the hometown's fastest player on their team to a 100-yard sprint. Would the players often get a head start or Owen jumping hurdles as a handicap? But Jesse Owens actually refused to race Cool Papa Bell for fear of losing. So yeah, Cool Papa Bell was fast. Was he as fast as legend says? Who knows? But hey, the stories are great. Well, finally, more importantly, by all accounts, Bell was a wonderful man. He was never noted to smoke, drink, or cuss. A kind man, his teammate Ted Page noted that he was, quote, an even better man off the field than he was on it. I'm going to end with a couple of quotes from Bell himself. First, they say that I was born too soon. I say the doors were open too late. Now he also said baseball allowed me to become a member of a brotherhood of friendship which would last forever. So that wraps up today's episode. This was a good one, Jerry. Well, thank you, Brooke. And thanks as always for everybody joining us, especially to my attorney Julie, who assured me she'd be listening. Hoped you enjoyed. Hope you'll keep listening. Don't forget to follow us and like us on social media and subscribe on your podcast platform. This is Jerry Dynes heading back to the locker room in Fungos and Fast balls.