This article first appeared in the 2018 Toronto Blue Jays Spring Training Program.
It's been three decades since the Blue Jays outfield trio of George Bell, Lloyd Moseby, and Jesse Barfield graced the cover of the Sporting News Baseball Yearbook together. At the time, they had few rivals as an outfield grouping. All three had been to an All-Star game. Each owned a Silver Slugger Award. Each had a 20 homer-20 steal season and had led their respective position in defensive assists. Their unique combination of power, speed, and defense together in one outfield was unparalleled across baseball.
The three outfielders spent seven years together on top of the baseball world in Toronto. They delivered the franchise its first division title and playoff appearance during the magical 'Drive of '85'. Barfield set the single-season franchise record for home runs with 40 in 1986 only to see Bell pass him with 47 during his MVP season the following year. Moseby still holds the Blue Jays franchise record for stolen bases, swiping 255 bags during his tenure in a Toronto uniform. When the 1980s came to a close, Bell was the franchise leader in home runs, Barfield was second, and Moseby was third.
They were, simply, the best outfield in Blue Jays history.
"Those were the good old days," Bell said when prompted with the group's accolades, sitting between his two outfield counterparts at the Blue Jays Spring Training complex. The three stars were recently reunited at the Alomar Sports Fantasy Camp in Dunedin. "Playing between these two superstars was a great experience. All three of us were hungry. Jesse would come out and deliver one day and win the game. Tomorrow, Lloyd came in and did it. We were 21, 22, 23 years old, getting paid for something we loved to do. We were lucky."
As the 1980s came to a close, their careers took them to different teams and their lives took them in different directions, ending an extended run during which they were the best outfield trio in baseball on the field and inseparable off it. Despite the time and distance between them, one thing has not changed over the last thirty years: the friendship forged on the Toronto turf remains as strong as ever.
"We were lucky," Moseby said. "We really did have great friendships off the field. Now, any time I see George and Jesse, it's like I never left them. They're the kind of people, the kind of friendships, that last for real. I'm genuinely glad to see these guys."
The friendship the three outfielders maintained off the field was instrumental in their success on it, helping to turn three individually great players into a legendary unit.
"We pushed each other," Bell said. "We used to get on each other and help each other play in the outfield. That's why we came to be the three best outfielders in the game. Everything we did was like a project. We'd go out there and work early together."
"If I was struggling or Lloyd was struggling or George was struggling, you knew you were going to get ripped," Barfield said. "There was no malice behind it. You knew it was coming and it kept us loose. It pushed us. They're just like my brothers, my own siblings. They're going to get under your skin sometimes, they're supposed to. We kept each other honest."
Their ability to get under each other's skin hasn't faded over time. Bell, often thought of as a mercurial superstar, seemed nothing of the sort holding court between his teammates, teasing them with a smile on his face.
"Barfield, he didn't run the bases all that good," he began when asked to give a scouting report on his teammate.
"Oh, here we go again." Moseby cut in, rolling his eyes as Bell continued.
"If he was going to score from second base, you had to hit the ball in the gap and he'd still have to slide at home!"
"You better check the stats!" Barfield objected before all three broke into laughter.
It's one of many moments when the three stars filled the room with laughter, their genuine affection for one another after all these years obvious. They told stories as a team, one starting and the others finishing. Thirty years later, they remain in sync.
"We were like synchronized swimmers out there," Barfield said of the connection between the three on the field. They rarely needed signs to know what the others were doing in the outfield. Off the field, although Moseby and Barfield had grown up across the country from one another and across an ocean from Bell, their similar upbringings united them when they reached Toronto.
"You look at guys from the Dominican Republic like George who had to work for their next meal. It was pressure trying to find out where their next meal was going to come from. Us, growing up in the slums, that's pressure. So, you weren't going to scare us," Barfield said. "You might beat us, but you weren't going to scare us."
Few teams did beat them. In 1983, when all three became regulars for the first time together, they led Toronto to its first winning season in franchise history. Two years later, they brought the city its first division title and playoff berth. Between 1983 and 1989 when the trio was split up by a mid-season trade, they never had a losing season together.
"We wanted to win, whatever it took," Barfield said about their run on top of the American League. "We could beat you in a lot of different ways. Not just bang with offense. We could run. We could play small ball, real baseball. We knew we could play with any team out there. We had the ugliest uniforms in the world, but we were going to play good baseball."
Now each 58-years-old, the three stars have moved on from the game that brought them together. Bell spends his time at home in the Dominican Republic, often on a golf course. Barfield has devoted himself to his family and grandkids in retirement. While Moseby holds a part-time position with the Blue Jays, he too has dived headfirst into being a grandfather.
"I put a lot of time into my grandkids. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. As a player, everything is a grind, grind, grind, grind and you look up and your kids are grown. I got lucky and got a second chance to be a grandfather. Anything else that I've done, sure I could tell you about it, but it's nothing compared to what I've been doing lately just being a grandfather."
For Blue Jays fans, it might feel strange to think about the young superstars of their youth being grandparents now, and it's no different for the players themselves.
"It's been, what, thirty years now?" Bell said, looking to each of his teammates. "We're getting old!"
They laughed. Moseby turned to his two friends.
"It was a privilege playing beside you two guys. We were lucky."
Barfield was quick to agree.
"There's nothing in this world I would rather have done than be with these guys for nine months out of the year. We had a lot of fun."