| Maury Wills | |
|---|---|
 Wills with theLos Angeles Dodgers in 1961 | |
| Shortstop /Manager | |
| Born:(1932-10-02)October 2, 1932 Washington, D.C., U.S. | |
| Died: September 19, 2022(2022-09-19) (aged 89) Sedona, Arizona, U.S. | |
Batted: Switch Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| June 6, 1959, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 4, 1972, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .281 |
| Hits | 2,134 |
| Home runs | 20 |
| Runs batted in | 458 |
| Stolen bases | 586 |
| Managerial record | 26–56 |
| Winning % | .317 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As manager | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Maurice Morning Wills (October 2, 1932 – September 19, 2022) was an American professionalbaseball player andmanager. He played inMajor League Baseball as ashortstop from 1959 to 1972, most prominently as an integral member of theLos Angeles Dodgers teams that won threeWorld Series titles between1959 and1965. He also played for thePittsburgh Pirates and theMontreal Expos. Wills is credited with reviving thestolen base as part of baseball strategy.[1]
Wills was theNational LeagueMost Valuable Player (MVP) in 1962, stealing a record 104 bases to break the old modern era mark of 96, set byTy Cobb in 1915. He was anAll-Star for five seasons and seven All-Star Games,[2] and was the firstMLB All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in 1962. He also wonGold Gloves in 1961 and 1962. In a fourteen-year career, Willsbatted .281 with 20home runs, 458runs batted in, 2,134hits, 1,067runs, 177doubles, 71 triples, 586 stolen bases, and 552bases on balls in 1,942 games.[3] From 2009 until his death in 2022, Wills was a member of theLos Angeles Dodgers organization, serving as a representative of the Dodgers Legend Bureau.
Wills was born inWashington, D.C., to Guy and Mabel Wills, the seventh of thirteen children.[4] His parents were originally fromMaryland; his father, born in 1900, worked as a machinist at theWashington Navy Yard and was a part-time Baptist minister. His mother, born in 1902, worked as an elevator operator.[5]
He began playingsemi-professional baseball at age 14. AtCardozo Senior High School, Wills starred in baseball, basketball, and football. He earned All-City honors in each sport in his sophomore, junior, and senior years. On the baseball team, he playedthird base and also pitched.[6]
Wills signed with the then-Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950, after graduating from high school.[7] He spent eight years in theminor leagues for them. Before the 1959 season, theDetroit Tigers bought his contract for $35,000, but they returned Wills to the Dodgers afterspring training because they did not think he was worth that salary.[8][9]
Pee Wee Reese, the Dodgers'shortstop, retired after the 1958 season. The Dodgers began the 1959 season withBob Lillis at shortstop, but he struggled and the team went toDon Zimmer. When Zimmer broke his toe in June, the Dodgers promoted Wills from the minor leagues. He played in 83 games for the Dodgers, batting .260 with 7 RBI.[3] In the1959 World Series, he played in each of the six games, hitting 5-for-20 with onestolen base and tworuns in the Dodgers' victory.[3] Before the 1960 season, the Dodgers traded Zimmer. In Wills's first full season in 1960, he hit .295 with 27 RBI and a league-leading 50 stolen bases in 148 games,[3] becoming the firstNational League (NL) player to steal 50 bases sinceMax Carey stole 51 in 1923.[7]
In1962, Wills stole 104 bases to set a new MLB stolen base record, breaking the old modern era mark of 96, set byTy Cobb in 1915.[10] Wills also stole more bases than any team that year, the highest total being 99 by theWashington Senators. Wills was caught stealing just 13 times. He finished the season batting .299 with six home runs and 48 RBI,[3] and led the NL with 10triples and 179singles.[11] Late in the 1962 season,San Francisco Giants ManagerAlvin Dark ordered grounds crews to water down the base paths, turning them into mud to hinder Wills's base-stealing attempts.[12] In 1962, Wills played a full 162-game schedule, plus all three games of the best-of-three regular season playoff series with the Giants, giving him a total of 165 games played, an MLB record that still stands for most games played in a single season. His 104 steals remained a major league record untilLou Brock stole 118 in 1974.[13] He won the NLMost Valuable Player Award overWillie Mays, with teammateTommy Davis finishing third.[14]
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In the1963 World Series, Wills batted 2-for-16 (.133) with one stolen base in the Dodgers' four-game sweep of theNew York Yankees.[3] In the1965 World Series, he played in all seven games and went 11-for-30 (.367) with three runs and three stolen bases in a hard-fought Dodger victory, his third and last World Series title.[3][7]
While playing for the Dodgers, Wills was aGold Glove Award winner in 1961 and 1962, was named a NL All-Star five times (5 seasons), and was selected seven times for theAll-Star Game (two games were played in 1961 and 1962).[7]
In the 1966 season, Wills had 38 stolen bases and was caught stealing 24 times.[15] He batted 1-for-13, an .077 average, with one stolen base, in the1966 World Series, as the Dodgers were swept in four games.[3][7]
After the 1966 season, the Dodgers went on a postseason exhibition tour of Japan. During the tour, Wills, who was nursing bad knees and felt he was unable to perform, left in the middle and went back home.[16] His leaving was seen as abandonment and disloyalty by Dodgers ownerWalter O'Malley who was already irked at losing pitcherSandy Koufax who had recently retired. Hence, almost as a punishment, the team traded Wills to thePittsburgh Pirates forBob Bailey andGene Michael.[15]
In the 1967 season, he played in 149 games, recording 186 hits, 29 stolen bases (his lowest since having 35 in 1961), three home runs, 45 RBI, and a .302 batting average.[3][17] In the following season, he played in 153 games, getting 174 hits, 31 RBI, and 52 stolen bases, although he was caught stealing 21 times, with a .278 batting average.[3][18]
On October 14, 1968, theMontreal Expos selected Wills from the Pirates as the 21st pick in theexpansion draft.[7] Wills batted first in the lineup for the inaugural game of the Expos on April 8, 1969. He went 3-for-6 with one RBI and one stolen base in the 11–10 win.[19] He played just 47 games for the team, getting 42 hits, 8 RBI and 15 stolen bases on a .222 batting average.[3][7] An exchange withTed Blackman of theMontreal Gazette on May 19 made headlines when Wills struck Blackman in the mouth due to not liking what Blackman had put in the paper, and loose play by Wills later that month led to boos in Montreal.[20] Unhappy in Montreal, Wills briefly retired on June 3[21] but returned to the Expos 48 hours later.[7][20]
On June 11, 1969, the Expos traded Wills to the Dodgers along withManny Mota forRon Fairly andPaul Popovich.[7] In 104 games with Los Angeles, he batted .297 with four home runs and 39 RBI while stealing 25 bases.[3] After the season, Wills finished 11th in NL MVP voting.[22] In the following year, he played in 132 games while having 141 hits, 34 RBI 28 stolen bases, and a .270 batting average.[3] For 1971, he played in 149 games while having 169 hits, three home runs, 44 RBI, 15 stolen bases, and a .281 batting average,[3] resulting in a sixth-place finish in NL MVP voting.[23] However, Wills failed to work out during the1972 Major League Baseball strike, and once the season finally started, he struggled with his reflexes and timing. After a game against the Expos in which he struggled againstCarl Morton, Wills went back to the bench, nodded at managerWalter Alston, and remarked, "He's certainly justified if he takes me out."[8] Alston did indeed replace Wills in the lineup withBill Russell on April 29, and Wills spent the rest of the season as a reserve player while Russell went on to hold the position for the next several years.[8]
Wills played 71 games in 1972, recording 17 hits, 4 RBI and one stolen base and a .129 batting average.[3] In his final MLB appearance on October 4, 1972, he served as a pinch runner forRon Cey in the top of the ninth inning, scoring a run on a home run bySteve Yeager while also playing the bottom of the ninth inning at third base.[24] On October 24, 1972, he was released by the Dodgers.[25]
AlongsideChicago White Sox shortstopLuis Aparicio (who led theAmerican League in stolen bases in nine straight years), Wills brought new prominence to the tactic of stolen bases.[26][27] "Almost single-handedly Maury turned baseball from its love affair with plodding, one-dimensional sluggers and got the game to consider pure speed as serious offensive and defensive weapons," notedTommy John.[8] Perhaps it was due to greater media exposure inLos Angeles, or to the Dodgers' greater success, or to their extreme reliance on a low-scoring strategy that emphasized pitching, defense, and Wills's speed to compensate for their lack of productive hitters. Wills was a significant distraction to the pitcher even if he did not try to steal, because he was a constant threat to do so. The fans atDodger Stadium would chant, "Go! Go! Go, Maury, Go!" any time he got on base.[28] While not the fastest runner in the major leagues, Wills accelerated with remarkable speed. He also studied pitchers relentlessly, watching their pick-off moves even when not on base. And when driven back to thebag, his fierce competitiveness made him determined to steal. Once, when on first base againstNew York Mets pitcherRoger Craig, Wills drew twelve consecutive throws from Craig to the Mets first baseman. On Craig's next pitch to the plate, Wills stole second.[29]
In the wake of his record-breaking season, Wills's stolen base totals dropped precipitously. Though he continued to frighten pitchers once on base, he stole only 40 bases in 1963 and 53 bases in 1964. In July 1965, Wills was ahead of his 1962 pace.[30] However, at age 32, Wills began to slow in the second half. The punishment of sliding led him to bandage his legs before every game,[31] and he ended the 1965 season with 94 stolen bases.[32]
After retiring from playing professional baseball, Wills spent time as a baseball analyst atNBC from 1973 through 1977. He also managed in theMexican Pacific League—a winter league—for four seasons, during which time he led theNaranjeros de Hermosillo to the 1970–71 season league championship.[33] Wills let it be known he felt qualified to pilot a big-league club. In his book,How To Steal A Pennant, Wills claimed he could take any last-place club and make them champions within four years. TheSan Francisco Giants allegedly offered him a one-year deal, but Wills turned them down. In August 1980, theSeattle Mariners firedDarrell Johnson and named Wills their manager.[34]
According to theSeattle Post-Intelligencer's Steve Rudman, Wills made a number of gaffes. He called for a relief pitcher although there was nobody warming up in the bullpen, held up another game for 10 minutes while looking for a pinch-hitter, and even left a spring-training game in the sixth inning to fly to California.[7][35]
On April 25, 1981, Wills ordered the Mariners' grounds crew to make thebatter's boxes one foot longer than regulation, after receiving complaints thatTom Paciorek was batting outside the box. The extra foot was in the direction of the mound. However,Oakland Athletics managerBilly Martin noticed something was amiss and asked plate umpireBill Kunkel to investigate. Under questioning from Kunkel, the Mariners' head groundskeeper admitted Wills had ordered the change. Wills claimed he was trying to help his players stay in the box. However, Martin suspected that given the large number ofbreaking ball pitchers on the A's staff, Wills wanted to give his players an advantage.[36] The American League suspended Wills for two games and fined him $500. American League umpiring supervisor Dick Butler likened Wills's actions to decreasing the distance between the bases from 90 feet (27.4 m) to 88 feet (26.8 m).[37]
After leading Seattle to a 20–38 mark to end the 1980 season, new ownerGeorge Argyros fired Wills on May 6, 1981, with the Mariners deep in last place at 6–18. His career record was 26–56, for a winning percentage of .317, one of the worst ever for a non-interim manager.[38]
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However,Julio Cruz, himself an accomplished base stealer, credited Wills with teaching him how to steal second base against a left-handed pitcher.[29]Dave Roberts similarly credits Wills with coaching him to steal under pressure circumstances, particularly his crucial stolen base in Game 4 of the2004 American League Championship Series. "He said, 'DR, one of these days you're going to have to steal an important base when everyone in the ballpark knows you're gonna steal, but you've got to steal that base and you can't be afraid to steal that base.' So, just kind of trotting out on to the field that night, I was thinking about him. So he was on one side telling me 'this was your opportunity.' And the other side of my brain is saying, 'You're going to get thrown out, don't get thrown out.' Fortunately Maury's voice won out in my head."[39]
Wills was a coach on the team from 1996 to 1997 and served as a radiocolor commentator for theFargo-Moorhead RedHawks onKNFL until 2017.[40] He resumed making appearances with the Dodgers in 2000, serving as a guest instructor in spring training until 2016.[41]
As a BBWAA candidate, Wills was on theBaseball Hall of Fame ballot for fifteen years, from 1978 to 1992, but never received more than 40.6% of the vote, falling far short of the required 75% to be elected. His vote total fell to half after 1982 and his subsequent arrest in 1983 for cocaine possession likely played a part in why his numbers never recovered.[42]
In 2014, Wills appeared for the first time as a candidate on theGolden Era Committee election ballot for Hall of Fame induction in 2015, which required twelve votes.[43] However, he missed getting elected by three votes. All the other candidates on the ballot also missed being elected.[44]
The Golden Era Committee was replaced in 2016 by the four committees, including Golden Days Committee which covered the period from 1950 to 1969.[45] Wills was on the2022 ballot but he did not receive enough votes for induction.[46]
Throughout most of his major league playing career, Wills supplemented his salary in the off-season by performing extensively as a vocalist and instrumentalist (on banjo, guitar, and ukulele), appearing occasionally on television and frequently in night clubs.[47] He also cut at least two records during this period—one under his own name,[48] the other as featured vocalist withLionel Hampton.[49] For roughly two years, starting on October 24, 1968, Wills was the co-owner, operator, and featured performer of a nightclub, The Stolen Base (also known as Maury Wills' Stolen Base), located inPittsburgh'sGolden Triangle and offering a mix of "banjos, draft beer and baseball."[50][51][52]
By no account, least of all his own, was Wills a consummate virtuoso; "good; not great, maybe, but good," wroteNewsday'sStan Isaacs, reviewing a 1966Basin Street East engagement shared withWorld Series nemesisMudcat Grant (although Isaacs did single out "a few mean choruses on banjo").[53] Nonetheless, the level of proficiency attained on Wills's principal instrument was attested to on two separate occasions by theAmerican Federation of Musicians: first, in December 1962, when the president of Los Angeles Local 47, after hearing just a few minutes of banjo playing, promptly waived the balance of Wills's membership entrance exam,[54] and then, just over five years later, when trumpeterCharlie Teagarden, specifically citing "Maury's banjo-playing ability" (and evidently unaware of Wills's already established membership), "presented him, on behalf of the musicians union, an honorary lifetime membership."[55]
In 1969, Wills appeared in an episode of the television seriesGet Smart, entitled "Apes of Wrath" (season 5, episode 10).[56]
In 1965, Wills recorded two songs for the albumThe Sound Of The Dodgers: "Dodger Stadium" (with teammateWillie Davis and comedianStubby Kaye) and "Somebody's Keeping Score".[57]
After receiving theHickok Belt in 1962,[58] Wills was determined by theCommissioner of Internal Revenue to have deficiencies in reported income and awards deductions. TheUnited States Tax Court supported the Commissioner and thetax case was brought up to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed the decision.[59]
In his 1992 autobiography,On the Run: The Never Dull and Often Shocking Life of Maury Wills, Wills discussed his love affair with actressDoris Day. Day had previously denied this in her 1976 autobiographyDoris Day: Her Own Story.[60]
Wills abusedalcohol andcocaine until 1989.[61] He wrote in his autobiography, "In3+1⁄2 years, I spent more than $1 million of my own money on cocaine."[62] In December 1983, Wills was arrested for cocaine possession after his former girlfriend, Judy Aldrich, had reported her car stolen. During a search of the car, police found a vial allegedly containing .06 grams of cocaine and a water pipe. The charge was dismissed three months later on the grounds of insufficient evidence.[63] The Dodgers organization paid for a drug treatment program, but Wills walked out and continued to use drugs until he began a relationship with Angela George, who encouraged him to begin a vitamin therapy program. The two later married.[64]
Wills is the father of former major leaguerBump Wills, who played for theTexas Rangers andChicago Cubs for six seasons. Due to a salacious anecdote in the elder Wills's autobiography,[62] the two had a falling out, but as of 2004 occasionally spoke.[65]
In 2009, Wills was honored by Washington, D.C., andCardozo Senior High School with the renaming of the former Banneker Recreation Field as Maury Wills Field. The field was completely renovated and serves as Cardozo's home diamond.[66] The Maury Wills Museum inFargo, North Dakota, atNewman Outdoor Field, home of theFargo-Moorhead RedHawks, opened in 2001 and closed in 2017 when he retired.[67][68]
Wills died at his home inSedona, Arizona, on September 19, 2022, at age 89, just two weeks shy of his 90th birthday.[69][70]
While Wills had broken Cobb's single season stolen base record in 1962, theNational League had increased its number ofgames played per team that year from 154 to 162. Wills's 97th stolen base occurred after his team had played its 154th game; as a result, CommissionerFord Frick ruled that Wills's 104-steal season and Cobb's 96-steal season of 1915 were separate records, just as he hadthe year before (theAmerican League had also increased its number of games played per team to 162) afterRoger Maris had brokenBabe Ruth's single-season home run record. Both stolen base records were broken in 1974 byLou Brock's 118 steals; Brock broke Cobb's stolen base record by stealing his 97th base before hisSt. Louis Cardinals completed their 154th game.[73]
His father, Guy Wills, born in 1900 in Maryland, worked as a machinist at the Washington Navy Yard and part-time as a Baptist minister. His mother, Mable Wills, born in 1902, also in Maryland, worked as an elevator operator.
Maury began playing organized baseball at age 14, in a local semipro league. He starred in baseball, basketball, and football at Cardozo High School in Washington, earning all-city honors in each sport as a sophomore, junior, and senior. On the diamond, Wills pitched and played third base.
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Major League Baseball single season stolen base record holder 1962–1974 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
