https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maury-wills...ies-at-89/
RIP Maury Wills. Another of the stars from my youth passing away. Maury retired in 1972.


"..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 base-running 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."

Wills had an ill-fated stint managing 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, D.C....


Wills led the NL in stolen bases from 1960-65, 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...."

It’s difficult, sometimes, to draw the line between “Hall of Famer” and “really good player”. Some are destined to straddle the line, and so to either be ranked at the bottom of the first category, or — like Maury Wills — at the very top of the second category.

RIP

At 74 I was fortunate to see the old AllStars. Mantle, Maris, Wills, Mays, Ford, etc. and etc. These were fine ball players and at the time I was more into baseball than football. I would venture to the public library and take out biographys of them.

Too bad many of them are dying off but I guess like everything we all have to go sometime.

Rip Maury

I think that if the HOF is truly a hall of FAME, then Wills belongs in it more that some of the guys who simply hung around to accumulate numbers. Wills dominated the game, changed the way the game was played, and was a key contributor tote Dodgers' dominance for the better part of a decade, with World Championships in 1959, 1963, and 1965, and another WS appearance in 1966. I know, as a Cardinals fan, I hated him.

I think Wills comes closer to FAME that some guy who hung around for years hitting .250 as a DH in order to accumulate 3000 hits.

@Owl: How do you define “fame”? by calculating how many people recognize a candidate’s name? Should Bob Uecker be enshrined at Cooperstown?

(09-21-2022 07:49 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  @Owl: How do you define “fame”? by calculating how many people recognize a candidate’s name? Should Bob Uecker be enshrined at Cooperstown?

There is a wing at Cooperstown to recognize broadcasters, and Uecker is there.

For players, it should be what you did on the field.

An example of my thinking is Bill Mazeroski. He was the best defensive second baseman ever, by almost all defensive metrics, and by some metrics the best defensive player at any position. And if you were asked to name the ten most memorable or impactful home runs in history, can you honestly get past #3 or #4 before his name enters the conversation? That says FAME to me, loudly and clearly, regardless of how many numbers he accumulated.