Maury Wills

Maury Wills
Wills in 2009.
Shortstop
Born: October 2, 1932 (1932-10-02) (age 79) Washington, D.C.
Batted: Both	Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 6, 1959 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
October 4, 1972 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics
Batting average	.281
Hits	2,134
Runs batted in	458
Stolen bases	586
Teams
Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–1966) Pittsburgh Pirates (1967–1968) Montreal Expos (1969) Los Angeles Dodgers (1969–1972)
Career highlights and awards
7× All-Star selection (1961, 1961², 1962, 1962², 1963, 1965, 1966) 3× World Series champion (1959, 1963, 1965) 2× Gold Glove Award winner (1961, 1962) 1962 NL MVP 1962 MLB All-Star Game MVP

Maurice Morning "Maury" Wills (born October 2, 1932) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and switch-hitting batter who played most prominently with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–66, 1969–72), and also with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1967–68) and Montreal Expos (1969). He was an essential component of the Dodgers' championship teams in the mid-1960s, and is credited for reviving the stolen base as part of baseball strategy.^[1]

In 14-seasons career, Wills batted .281 with 20 home runs, 458 runs batted in, 2,134 hits, 1,067 runs, 177 doubles, 71 triples, and 586 stolen bases in 1,942 games.

As of 2009, Wills is a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization serving as a representative of the Dodgers Legend Bureau.

Early Days in DC

Maurice, or Sonny as he was called at Cardozo High School, first showed up as an All City Pitcher in the local Washington Daily News. He played on Sal Hall's '48 Cardozo football team that went unbeaten and unscored on. In the '49–'50 school year, 3 sport standout Sonny Wills, was named All City QB in football, basketball and Pitcher in baseball. On May 8, 1950 in a game against Phelps, P Wills threw a 1-hitter and struck out 17.

Playing career

In his first-full season (1960), Wills hit .295 and led the league with 50 stolen bases, being the first NL player to steal 50 since Max Carey stole 51 in 1923. Wills stole 104 bases in 1962 to set a new Major League record, breaking the old modern era mark of 96, set by Ty Cobb in 1915.^{[citation needed]} Wills also outstole all of the other teams that year, the highest total being the Washington Senators' 99.^[2] Besides this, he hit .299, led the league in triples (10), and was selected the NL Most Valuable Player (beating out Willie Mays by seven points). He also played in 165 games in 1962, setting a record that still stands for games played in a single season.

Although Luis Aparicio had been stealing 50+ bases in the American League for several years prior to Wills' insurgence, Wills brought new prominence to the tactic.^{[citation needed]} Perhaps this was due to greater media exposure in Los Angeles, or to the Dodgers' greater success, or to their extreme reliance on a low-scoring strategy that emphasized pitching, defense, and Wills' speed to compensate for their lack of productive hitters. Wills was a significant distraction to the pitcher even if he didn't try to steal, because he was a constant threat to do so.^{[citation needed]} The fans at Dodger Stadium would chant, "Go! Go! Go, Maury, Go!" anytime he got on base.^{[citation needed]} A winner of the Gold Glove Award in 1961 and 1962, Wills was selected five times for the All-Star Game.

On September 21, 1969 in a game against the Dodgers' fierce arch-rival, the San Francisco Giants, Wills committed an error to allow the Giants to win the game in walk-off fashion 4-3. Ironically, this game was the MLB debut of Bill Buckner, who would be infamous for committing an error that would allow the New York Mets to win Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. ^[3]

Managing and retirement

After retiring, Wills spent time as a baseball analyst at NBC from 1973 through 1977. He also managed in the Mexican Winter League for four seasons, and 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. The San Francisco Giants allegedly offered him a one-year deal, but Wills turned them down. Finally, in 1980, the Seattle Mariners fired Darrell Johnson and gave Wills the reins.

Wills' tenure was an unmitigated disaster. Baseball writer Rob Neyer, in his Big Book of Baseball Blunders criticized Wills for "the variety and frequency of [his] mistakes" as manager, calling them "unparalleled." In a short interview appearing in the June 5, 2006 issue of Newsweek, Neyer said, "It wasn't just that Wills couldn't do the in-game stuff. Wills's inability to communicate with his players really sets him apart. He said he was going to make his second baseman, Julio Cruz, his permanent shortstop. Twenty-four hours later he was back at second base. As far as a guy who put in some real time (as a manager), I don't think there's been anyone close to Wills."

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Steve Rudman, Wills made a number of gaffes. He called for a relief pitcher even though 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.

The most celebrated incident of Wills' tenure as manager occurred on April 25, 1981. He ordered the Mariners' grounds crew to make the batter's boxes one foot longer than regulation. However, Oakland Athletics manager Billy Martin noticed something was amiss and asked plate umpire Bill 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 of breaking-ball pitchers on the A's staff, Wills wanted to give his players an advantage. The American League suspended Wills for two games and fined him $500.

After leading Seattle to a dismal 20-38 mark to end the 1980 season, Wills was fired on May 6, 1981 with the M's deep in last place at 6-18 (giving him a career mark of 26-56, one of the worst records ever for a non-interim big-league manager). Years later, Wills admitted he probably should have gotten some seasoning as a minor-league manager prior to being hired in Seattle.

The Maury Wills Museum is in Fargo, North Dakota at Newman Outdoor Field home of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. Maury was a coach on the team from 1996–1997 and currently serves as a radio color commentator for the RedHawks on KVOX-AM "740 The Fan" with play-by-play announcer Scott Miller.

Personal

In his autobiography, "On the Run: The Never Dull and Often Shocking Life of Maury Wills," Wills claims to have had a love affair with actress Doris Day as noted. Day denied this in her autobiography Doris Day: Her Own Story, and said it was probably advanced by the Dodgers organization for publicity purposes.

Wills was well known as an abuser of alcohol and cocaine until getting sober in 1989.[1] In December 1983, Wills was arrested for cocaine possession after his former girlfriend, Judy Aldrich, had reported her car had been stolen. During a search of the car, police found a vial allegedly containing .06 of a gram of cocaine and a water pipe. The charge was dismissed three months later on the grounds of insufficient evidence.[2]

The Dodgers 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.[3]

In his New Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James is highly critical of Wills as a person, but still calls him one of top 20 shortstops of all time, ranking him #19.

He is the father of former major leaguer Bump Wills, who played for the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs during his five-year MLB career. The two had a falling out following the publication of Maury's autobiography in 1991, involving a salacious anecdote, but now occasionally speak.[4]

Highlights

• 5-time All-Star (1961–63, 1965–66)
• All-Star Game MVP (1962)
• NL MVP (1962)
• Twice Gold Glove (1961–62)
• Twice led National League in At Bats (1961 and 1962)
• Led National League in Triples (1962)
• Led National League in Stolen Bases for 6 consecutive seasons (1960–65)
• Led National League in Singles 4 times (1961–62, 1965 and 1967)
• Led National League in Sacrifice Hits (1961)
• Los Angeles Dodgers Career Stolen Base Leader (490)
• Holds MLB record for most Games Played in a single season (165 in 1962)
• Holds Los Angeles Dodgers Single-Season for At Bats (695 in 1962)
• 7th MLB player to hit home runs from each side of the plate in a game (1962)
• Won the Hickok Belt award (1962)
• Stole 104 in 1962, still an MLB-record among switch-hitters

The stolen base “asterisk”

While Wills had broken Cobb's single season stolen base record in 1962, the National League had increased its number of games played per team that year from 154 to 162. Wills' 97th stolen base had occurred after his team had played its 154th game; as a result, Commissioner Ford Frick ruled that Wills' 104-steal season and Cobb's 96-steal season of 1915 were separate records, just as he had the year before (the American League had also increased its number of games played per team to 162) after Roger Maris had broken Babe Ruth's single season home run record. Both stolen base records would be broken in 1974 by Lou Brock's 118 steals; Brock had broken Cobb's stolen base record by stealing his 97th base before his St. Louis Cardinals had completed their 154th game.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base records
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions
• Major League Baseball titles leaders

Notes

1. ^ "They Were There 1962: Maury Wills". Thisgreatgame.com. 2010. http://www.thisgreatgame.com/1962twt.html. Retrieved August 6, 2011. 
2. ^ 1962 Team Hitting Stats at MLB.com
3. ^ http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/tag/_/name/1986-mets

External links

• Official website
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Wills' Speed Ushered In New Baseball Era
• 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame candidate profile at the Internet Archive
• Maury Wills Museum

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Willie Mays	National League Stolen Base Champion 1960–1965	Succeeded by Lou Brock
Preceded by Ty Cobb	Major League Baseball single season stolen base record holder 1962–1974	Succeeded by Lou Brock
Preceded by Darrell Johnson	Seattle Mariners Manager 1980–1981	Succeeded by Rene Lachemann

Persondata
Name	Wills, Maury
Alternative names
Short description	Baseball player and manager
Date of birth	October 2, 1932
Place of birth	Washington, D.C.
Date of death
Place of death