Maury Wills obit

Los Angeles Dodgers great Maury Wills, NL MVP in 1962, dies at age 89

 

 He was not on the list.

Maury Wills, who intimidated pitchers with his base-stealing prowess as a shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers on three World Series championship teams, has died. He was 89.

Wills died Monday night at home in Sedona, Arizona, the team said Tuesday after being informed by family members. No cause of death was given.

Wills played on World Series title teams in 1959, 1963 and 1965 during his first eight seasons with the Dodgers. He also played for Pittsburgh and Montreal before returning to the Dodgers from 1969 to 1972, when he retired.

During his 14-year career, Wills batted .281 with 2,134 hits and 586 stolen bases in 1,942 games.

Wills broke Ty Cobb's single-season record for stolen bases with his 97th swipe on Sept. 23, 1962. That season, he became the first player to steal more than 100 bases.

The Dodgers will wear a patch in memory of Wills for the rest of this season.

"Maury Wills was one of the most exciting Dodgers of all time," team president and CEO Stan Kasten said. "He changed baseball with his baserunning and made the stolen base an important part of the game. He was very instrumental in the success of the Dodgers with three world championships."

Manager Dave Roberts, an outfielder during his 10-year MLB career, was moved to tears as he recalled Wills' impact on him.

"He was a friend, a father, a mentor -- all of the above for me, so this is a tough one for me,'' he said. "He just kind of showed me to appreciate my craft, showed me how to be a big leaguer. He just loved to teach. I think a lot of where I get my excitement, my passion, my love for players is from Maury.''

Wills took an active role in Roberts' playing tenure with the Dodgers. Roberts stole 42 bases in 2003.

"I remember during games when I played here he would come down from the suite and tell me I need to bunt or I need to do this,'' Roberts said. "It just showed that he was in it with me. Even to this day, he would be there cheering for me, rooting for me.''

Wills had his own stint as a manager, guiding the Seattle Mariners from 1980-81, going 26-56 with a winning percentage of .317.

He was the National League Most Valuable Player in 1962, the same year he was MVP of the All-Star Game played in his hometown of Washington.

Wills stayed at home with his family instead of at the team hotel for the All-Star Game. He arrived at the ballpark carrying a Dodgers bag and wearing a Dodgers shirt. However, the security guard wouldn't let him in, saying he was too small to be a ballplayer.

Wills suggested the guard escort him to the NL clubhouse door, where he would wait while the guard asked the players to confirm his identity.

"So we walk down there and baseball players have a sick sense of humor, because when I stood in front of the door, with my Dodger shirt and duffel bag, and the man opened the door and said, 'Anybody in here know this boy?' and they all looked at me and said, 'Never saw him before," Wills told The Washington Post in 2015.

After the game, Wills left with his MVP trophy and showed it to the guard.

"He still didn't believe me, he thought maybe I was carrying it for somebody," Wills told the Post.

Wills led the NL in stolen bases from 1960 to 1965, was a seven-time All-Star selection and won Gold Glove Awards in 1961 and '62.

He was credited with reviving the stolen base as a strategy. His speed made him a constant threat on the basepaths and he distracted pitchers even if he didn't try to steal. He carefully studied pitchers and their pickoff moves when he wasn't on base. When a pitcher's throw drove him back to the bag, he became even more determined to steal.

Once, in a game against the New York Mets, Wills was on first base when pitcher Roger Craig threw 12 straight times to the bag. On Craig's next throw, Wills stole second.

By age 32, Wills was bandaging his legs before games because of the punishment of sliding.

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 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 broke Cobb's stolen base record by stealing his 97th base before his St. Louis Cardinals completed their 154th game.

Following the 1966 season, the Dodgers traded Wills to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Bob Bailey and Gene Michael.

In the 1967 season, he played in 149 games while having 186 hits, 29 stolen bases (his lowest since having 35 in 1961), 45 RBIs, and a .302 batting average. In the following season, he played in 153 games, getting 174 hits, 31 RBIs, and 52 stolen bases, although he was caught stealing 21 times, with a .278 batting average.

On October 14, 1968, the Montreal Expos selected Wills from the Pirates as the 21st pick in the expansion draft. 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. He played just 47 games for the team, getting 42 hits and 15 stolen bases on a .222 batting average; an exchange with Ted Blackman of the Montreal Gazette on May 19 made headlines when he struck him 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. Unhappy in Montreal, Wills briefly retired on June 3 but he returned to the Expos 48 hours later.

On June 11, 1969, the Expos traded Wills to the Dodgers along with Manny Mota for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich. In 104 games, he hit safely 129 times while stealing 25 bases for a .297 batting average. He was 11th in MVP voting that year. In the following year, he played in 132 games while having 141 hits, 28 stolen bases, and a .270 batting average. For 1971, he played in 149 games while having 169 hits, 15 stolen bases, and a .281 batting average, although he finished 6th in MVP voting. However, Wills failed to work out during the 1972 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 against Carl Morton, Wills went back to the bench, nodded at manager Walter Alston, and remarked, "He's certainly justified if he takes me out."[9] Alston did indeed replace Wills in the lineup with Bill 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.

Wills played 71 games in 1972, recording 17 hits and one stolen base and a .129 batting average. In his final MLB appearance on October 4, 1972, he served as a pinch runner for Ron Cey in the top of the ninth inning, scoring a run on a home run by Steve Yeager while also playing the bottom of the ninth inning at third base. On October 24, 1972, he was released by the Dodgers.

After retiring with the Dodgers in 1972, Wills worked an analyst at NBC for five years. He also managed winter ball in the Mexican Pacific League, winning a league championship in 1970-71.

Wills' tenure managing the Mariners was largely regarded as a disaster and he was criticized for his lack of managerial experience. It was evident in the numerous gaffes he committed, including calling for a relief pitcher when nobody was warming up in the bullpen and holding up a game for several minutes while looking for a pinch hitter.

Wills' biggest mistake came on April 25, 1981, when he ordered the Mariners' ground crew to extend the batter's box a foot longer toward the mound than regulation allowed. Oakland manager Billy Martin noticed and asked home plate umpire Bill Kunkel to investigate.

Kunkel questioned the head groundskeeper, who admitted Wills had ordered the change. Wills said it was to help his players stay in the box. However, Martin suspected it was to give the Mariners an advantage against Oakland's breaking-ball pitchers. Wills was suspended for two games by the American League and fined $500.

Wills led the Mariners to a 20-38 record to end the 1980 season, and he was fired on May 6, 1981, when the team was mired in last place at 6-18. Years later, Wills admitted he probably should have gotten more experience as a minor league manager before being hired in the big leagues.

After leading Seattle to a 20–38 mark to end the 1980 season, new owner George Argyros fired Wills on May 6, 1981, with the Mariners deep in last place at 6-18. This gave him a career record of 26-56 for a winning percentage of .317, one of the worst ever for a non-interim manager.

Wills struggled with addictions to alcohol and cocaine until getting sober in 1989. He credited Dodgers pitching great Don Newcombe, who overcame his own alcohol problems, with helping him. Newcombe died in 2019.

"I'm standing here with the man who saved my life," Wills said of Newcombe. "He was a channel for God's love for me because he chased me all over Los Angeles trying to help me and I just couldn't understand that. But he persevered, he wouldn't give in and my life is wonderful today because of Don Newcombe."

Born Maurice Morning Wills in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2, 1932, he was a three-sport standout at Cardozo Senior High. He earned All-City honors as a quarterback in football, in basketball and as a pitcher in baseball when he was nicknamed Sonny.

In 1948, he played on the school's undefeated football team, which never gave up any points. On the mound, Wills threw a one-hitter and struck out 17 in a game in 1950. The school's baseball field is named in his honor.

After receiving the Hickok Belt in 1962, Wills was determined by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to have deficiencies in reported income and awards deductions. The United States Tax Court supported the Commissioner and the tax case was brought up to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed the decision.

In 1969, Wills appeared in an episode of the television series Get Smart, entitled "Apes of Wrath" (season 5, episode 10).

In his 1962 autobiography, On the Run: The Never Dull and Often Shocking Life of Maury Wills, Wills discussed his love affair with actress Doris Day. Day denied this in her 1976 autobiography Doris Day: Her Own Story

Wills has his own museum in Fargo, North Dakota, where he was a coach and instructor for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks from 1996-97.

He is survived by wife, Carla, and children Barry, Micki, Bump, Anita, Susan Quam and Wendi Jo Wills. Bump was a former major league second baseman who played for Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs.

Teams

As player

 

    Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–1966)

    Pittsburgh Pirates (1967–1968)

    Montreal Expos (1969)

    Los Angeles Dodgers (1969–1972)

 

As manager

 

    Seattle Mariners (1980–1981)

 

Career highlights and awards

 

    7× All-Star (1961–1963, 1965, 1966)

    3× World Series champion (1959, 1963, 1965)

    NL MVP (1962)

    2× Gold Glove Award (1961, 1962)

    6× NL stolen base leader (1960–1965)