Home  News Maury Wills Veterans Committee Finalist at Baseball Hall of Fame
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Maury Wills Veterans Committee Finalist at Baseball Hall of Fame
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National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Maury Wills brought baseball into the future – by taking it back to its roots.
Today, the former stolen base king sits just one step away from Cooperstown as a finalist on the post-1942 Veterans Committee ballot at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Wills, born Oct. 2, 1932, is a former shortstop who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1959-66, 1969-72), Pittsburgh Pirates (1967-68) and Montreal Expos (1969). Wills appeared in four World Series and was a three-time World Series champion (1959, 1963, 1965) while playing for the Dodgers.
During Wills’ first full season (1960), he stole 50 bases, the highest National League total since Max Carey (51) in 1923. And in 1962, he broke Ty Cobb’s modern major league record of 96 stolen bases in one year (set in 1915) when he swiped 104 bags with the Dodgers.
In Wills’ 14 seasons, he hit .281 with 177 doubles, 71 triples and 1,067 runs scored in 1,942 games played. He stole 586 bases, leading NL six straight times (1960-65).
In 1962, Wills won the National League Most Valuable Player Award. He cracked the top 10 in the NL MVP voting three other times (1961, 1965, 1971) and was selected to seven All-Star Games (1961-63; two each in 1961 and 1962; 1965-66). He won the NL Gold Glove Award for shortstops in 1961 and 1962.
After retiring, Wills managed the Seattle Mariners for the last 58 games of the 1980 season and the first 25 games in 1981.
Wills will be considered for the Class of 2009 at the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Other members of the post-1942 Veterans Committee final ballot (for players who began their careers in 1943 or after) are Dick Allen, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant and Joe Torre. Any player receiving at least 75 percent of the vote from the Veterans Committee, which consists of the 64 living Hall of Famers, will be enshrined at the Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2009.
Results from the Veterans Committee vote will be announced Dec. 8 at baseball's Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.
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