# Philadelphia’s Roly de Armas Wins Mike Coolbaugh Award, Minnesota’s Mike Bell Wins Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/philadelphias-roly-de-armas-wins-mike-coolbaugh-award-minnesotas-mike-bell-wins-sheldon-chief-bender-award/
- Published: 2021-12-08T15:50:23-06:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

Philadelphia’s Roly de Armas Wins [Mike Coolbaugh](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/coolbmi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
Award, Minnesota’s [Mike Bell](https://www.baseball-reference.com/search/search.fcgi?pid=bellmi02,bellmi01,bell--004mik&search=Mike+Bell&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
Wins Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award

**NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 6, 2021 **— Minor League Baseball announced today it has selected
Philadelphia Phillies Florida Complex League Manager Roly de Armas as the recipient
of the 13th annual Mike Coolbaugh Award and the late Mike Bell of the Minnesota 
Twins as the 13th winner of the Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award.

The Mike Coolbaugh Award is presented annually to an individual who has shown outstanding
baseball work ethic, knowledge of the game and skill in mentoring young players 
on the field. The award was created by Minor League Baseball in 2008 to honor the
late Coolbaugh, a 17-year Minor League player who was in his first year as a coach
at the time of his passing. Mike appeared in 44 Major League games with the Milwaukee
Brewers (39 games in 2001) and St. Louis Cardinals (five games in 2002).

The Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award is presented to an individual with distinguished
service who has been instrumental in player development. The award honors Bender
as a longtime front office executive and consultant who spent 39 years with the 
Cincinnati Reds.

**ROLY DE ARMAS – Mike Coolbaugh Award**

The 2021 season marked de Armas’ 35th as a Minor League manager, with all 35 coming
at or below the Class A level. A 48-year professional baseball veteran, de Armas
began his career as a catcher in the Phillies organization from 1973-77.

He began his coaching career as a player-coach in the Phillies’ system with Peninsula(
Class A) in 1977 and began his managerial career in 1979 with Helena (Class A), 
where he remained until 1982. De Armas later managed Class A Spartanburg (1983, 
1985-86), Class A Sarasota (1984), Class A Clearwater (1987 and 1993) and Rookie-
level Martinsville (1988-92). In 1994, he was named bullpen catcher for the Chicago
White Sox, a role he held until June 2, 1995, when he was named bullpen coach, a
position he held through the 1996 season. In 1997, de Armas returned to the Minor
Leagues, managing the Chicago’s Rookie-level Sarasota club before joining the Arizona
Diamondbacks organization to manage Class A South Bend in 1998 and Rookie-level 
Tucson in 1999.

De Armas spent the 2000 season as the bullpen coach for the Toronto Blue Jays before
returning to the Phillies organization in 2001. De Armas managed the Phillies’ Rookie-
level team in the Gulf Coast League from 2001-02, 2004 and 2007-2021. He managed
Class A Clearwater for the second half of the 2002 and 2003 seasons and was the 
club’s catching coordinator in 2005 and 2006. De Armas also served as the bullpen
coach for Team USA in the World Cup from 2007-09 and spent several months with the
Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 as the interim bullpen coach. In 2010, he led the 
GCL Phillies to the championship. He was the bullpen coach for Team USA in the 2013
World Baseball Classic, and earlier this year he served as bullpen coach for Team
USA in the Tokyo Olympics, where Team USA won a silver medal.

“It’s truly an honor to be selected for this award and be mentioned with the previous
winners, many of whom I know personally,” said de Armas. “The previous winner of
this award, Glenn ‘Goose’ Gregson, was my pitching coach in my first year, and here
we are almost 50 years later, and we are the last two winners of this award, so 
that is pretty amazing. Mike Coolbaugh was a great man, and I’m honored to win the
award named in his honor.”

De Armas, 69, resides in Palm Harbor, Florida, with his wife, Debra. They have a
son, Devin.

“Roly de Armas has dedicated his career to helping young professional players try
to reach their dreams of becoming Major League Baseball players,” said Peter Woodfork,
Major League Baseball’s Senior Vice President of Minor League Operations and Development.“
To spend 35 years managing at the lowest levels of the Minor Leagues shows Roly’s
passion for developing players and his love for the game of baseball. We are proud
to recognize him with this award.”

**MIKE BELL – Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award**

Bell, who tragically passed away on March 26, 2021, at the age of 46 after a battle
with kidney cancer, is honored posthumously with the Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award.
Bell was entering his second season as bench coach for the Minnesota Twins at the
time of his passing.

A veteran of 28 years in professional baseball, Bell was a first-round Draft choice
of the Texas Rangers in 1993 and spent 13 years (1993-2005) as a professional player
in seven different organizations. He made his Major League debut on July 20, 2000,
for his hometown Cincinnati Reds, appearing in 19 games.

Following his playing career, Bell began a 13-year career in player development 
in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. After starting as a manager for three 
years (with Short-Season Yakima in 2007 and Class A Advanced A Visalia in 2008-09),
Bell was promoted to field coordinator in 2010 and the director of player development
in 2011. In 2017, Bell was promoted to vice president of player development before
joining Minnesota manager [Rocco Baldelli](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/baldero01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)’
s staff as bench coach in 2020.

Bell was part of a three-generation baseball family that is among the most famous
and respected in all of baseball. His grandfather, Gus, played 15 years in the Major
Leagues, while his father, Buddy, spent 27 years in Major League Baseball (nine 
as a manager and 18 as a player). Mike’s brother, Ricky, was a third-round pick 
of the Dodgers in 1997, and his brother, David, just completed his third season 
as Cincinnati’s manager after a 12-year playing career in the Majors.

Mike Bell is survived by his wife, Kelly, and their three children, Luke, Mikayla
and Madeline.

“On behalf of Mike’s wife Kelly, son Luke, and daughters Mikayla and Madeline, along
with Mike’s mother Gloria, brothers David and Rick, and sisters Kristi and Traci,
we would like to thank the committee for posthumously honoring Mike with the ‘Chief’
Bender Award as this prestigious award would have meant so much to Mike because 
of what the award implies relating to player development, which was his love and
passion,” said [Buddy Bell](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bellbu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-).“
Mike’s devotion and dedication to his players, staff and Minor League affiliates
transcended his love for the game of baseball. To be recognized for something he
loved to do makes this award even more meaningful. Mike’s recognition for this award
is very humbling for our family. My only wish is that Mike could be here to receive
the award himself. The Bell family would also like to thank Mike’s baseball families,
the Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Twins for being so gracious and supportive
to Mike and our family throughout Mike’s career and especially during his illness.
Again, it is both an honor and a privilege to receive this award on behalf of Mike.”

“Mike Bell was a highly regarded talent evaluator and instructor. He was a top baseball
executive and an even better person who will be sorely missed by many in our game,”
said Woodfork. “It is our honor to present a member of the Bell family with this
award for a second time, and deservedly so.”

**PREVIOUS MIKE COOLBAUGH AWARD WINNERS2008 [Bobby Jones](https://www.baseball-reference.com/search/search.fcgi?pid=jonesbo04,jonesbo03&search=Bobby+Jones&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-),
Texas Rangers
2009 [Charlie Montoyo](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/montoch01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-),
Tampa Bay Rays2010 Woody Huyke, GCL Pirates2011 Mike Jirschele, Omaha Storm Chasers2012
[Johnny Goryl](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/goryljo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-),
Cleveland Indians2013 Mike Guerrero, Nashville Sounds2014 [Tom Wiedenbauer](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wiedeto01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-),
Cleveland Indians2015 John Shoemaker, Los Angeles Dodgers2016 Donald “Spin” Williams,
Washington Nationals2017 Dennis Holmberg, Toronto Blue Jays2018 Steve Turco, St.
Louis Cardinals2019 Glenn “Goose” Gregson, Boston Red Sox

**PREVIOUS SHELDON “CHIEF” BENDER AWARD WINNERS2008 Jim Rantz, Minnesota Twins
2009
Keith Lieppman, Oakland Athletics2010 Mark Newman, New York Yankees2011 [Bob Gebhard](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gebhabo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-),
Arizona Diamondbacks2012 Mitch Lukevics, Tampa Bay Rays2013 Brian Graham, Baltimore
Orioles2014 Lois Hudson, Cincinnati Reds2015 Buddy Bell, Chicago White Sox2016 Dan
Lunetta, Detroit Tigers2017 Grady Fuson, Oakland Athletics2018 Steve Cobb, Arizona
Fall League2019 [Junior Noboa](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/noboaju01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-),
Arizona Diamondbacks

## #

About Minor League Baseball
Minor League Baseball consists of 120 teams across four
classification levels (Low-A, High-A, Double-A and Triple-A) that areaffiliated 
with Major League Baseball’s 30 teams. Fans flock to Minor League Baseball games
to see baseball’s future stars andexperience the affordable family-friendly entertainment
that has been a staple of Minor League Baseball since 1901. For moreinformation,
visit MiLB.com. Follow Minor League Baseball on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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