Maury

I was 11 when the Dodgers won their first World Series in L.A.  Living in Highland Park at a home for kids. I had gone to my first games at the coliseum in 1958. We went to about 5 games during the 1959 season. 

The Dodgers had replaced long-time retiring SS Pee Wee Reese with Don Zimmer. Zim had some success in previous seasons with the Dodgers and it was thought that he would be a good replacement for Pee Wee who now was a member of Alston’s coaching staff. 

Zimmer started bad and stayed bad. His batting average was under .200. To add injury to insult, he broke his toe, so with Bob Lillis struggling, Spokane manager Bobby Bragan recommended to the Dodgers that they call up his SS, Maury Wills. So on June 6, 1959, Wills played his first game with the Dodgers and went 0-4.

His first month in the bigs did not go well for the 26-year-old Wills, who was signed by the Dodgers in the summer of 1950 for a $500 dollar bonus. But he finally started hitting balls that barely would get by infielders and using his speed to get base hits. His path now headed in the right direction, he became a big contributor to the team’s run to the World Series and eventual Championship.

Maurice Morning Wills was born on October 2, 1932, in Washington DC. He lived in the Anacostia district in that city. His dad, Guy Wills, worked at the Navy yard as a machinist, and his mother Mabel, was an elevator operator. He had four brothers and eight sisters. 

He began playing organized ball at 14, in a local semi-pro league. He starred in baseball, basketball, and football at Cardozo High School and lettered in each sport 3 times. He pitched and played 3rd base.  He also got married his senior year to Gertrude Elliot, his high school sweetheart.  The couple would have 6 children and later divorced. 

A couple of colleges were after Wills for his football skills. He played QB and safety and was also the kicker.  But he wanted to pursue his favorite sport and opted for baseball. He was hoping for a $6000 dollar bonus, but Dodger scouts Rex Bowen and John Curry offered him a new suit of clothes. When they got up to leave, Bowen offered $500. Take it or leave it. Will’s dad said, “we’ll take it.”

Maury began his minor league career with the Dodgers class D Hornell Dodgers. At this point in time, Wills was strictly a RH hitter. He hit .280 and stole 54 bases there in 1951. The Dodgers were going to promote him to class C Santa Barbara of the Cal League, but he asked to stay in NY as he felt more comfortable there and he stole 54 again in 1952.

In 1953 he split time between Class A Pueblo, class B Miami Sun Sox. He hit a combined .286 in 111 games. He returned to Pueblo in 54 and had another solid year and was promoted to San Antonio of the AA Texas League for the 55 campaign. He had a rough year there hitting only .220 and was sent back to Pueblo for 56. 

Wills was starting to doubt himself and his career. But he had a good season for the Pueblo team hitting .302 and stealing 32 bases. He was purchased by the Seattle Rainiers, a PCL team, and played there in 1957, hitting .267 with 21 steals. But the Dodgers exercised their claim on him and assigned him to the Spokane Indians of the AAA PCL. Here, Maury’s career would take a huge turn.

His manager at Spokane was Bobby Bragan. Bragan became Will’s mentor. He helped change his attitude and Maury began to doubt himself less. Then Bragan encouraged Wills to start switch-hitting. With his speed, he could be just a little faster to first base. 

He told Bragan he would try anything once. Very shortly, he had gotten the hang of it. He hit .253 that season with 25 steals. But over the winter, the Dodgers sold him conditionally to the Detroit Tigers. Wills went to spring training in ’59 and had a good spring hitting over .400 and stealing 8 bases. But, the Tigers had traded for SS Rocky Bridges, so Wills was returned to the Dodgers and sent back to Spokane.

Maury was hitting well at Spokane .313 in 48 games with 25 steals. Meanwhile, in LA, Lillis was struggling, then replaced by Zimmer who broke his toe and Bragan suggested they call up Wills. He made his first start in June and struggled for a while. Then his hits began to get through the infield and his batting avg climbed to .260 by the end of the year.

Zimmer came back but was mired in a season-long slump hitting .165. So going into the 1959 series, Wills was the starting SS in all 6 games. Zimmer had one at-bat in the series. Maury hit .250 in the series and the Dodgers won their first title in LA. In April of 1960, the Dodgers traded Zimmer to the Cubs for Ron Perranoski, John Goryl, and Lee Handley and 25,000 dollars.

Wills started off slow but was working constantly on his base-stealing skills with Pete Reiser, who at the time was a coach on Alston’s staff. The hard work began to pay off and by the season’s end, Wills was hitting .295 with 50 bags. No NL player had stolen 50 bases since Max Carey in 1923. Wills was rejuvenated and eager for every at-bat. The Dodgers finished the year in 4th place.

In 1961, Maury had another solid year hitting .285 with 35 steals, leading the league again. He won his first gold glove, made the all-star team, and was 9th in the MVP vote. The Dodgers finished second to the pennant-winning Reds.

1962 was a magical and very painful year. For fans, the season was loaded with a lot of thrills and chants at Dodger Stadium long and loud…go go go go! Wills reached 50 steals by game 104. Bavasi wanted him to run even more, and it took its toll physically. His hamstrings burned from all the starting and stopping on base. 

He broke the NL record for steals, 81, by stealing 4 bases on the 7th of September. Commissioner Ford Frick then threw a curveball at him by declaring he would need to steal his 97th base, breaking Cobb’s all-time record by the Dodgers 154th game. Technically Cobb had set his record in 156 games in 1915. The NL had expanded in 62 and now played 162 games.

Maury passed Cobb on the 23rd of September stealing two bases in a loss to the Cardinals in the Dodgers 156th game. He said at the time, what is good enough for Cobb is good enough for me. I am aiming at 100. He stole his 100th base on the 26th of September against the Colt 45’s. 

But the Dodgers had gone cold. Maury did not steal any bases the next 4 games, all Dodger losses. Wills stole 3 bases in the 3 game playoff with the Giants. 

He finished with 104 steals, only being caught 13 times. He hit a solid .299. He led the league in triples, won his second gold glove and the 1962 MVP award. 

Maury loved to play his banjo and would do so in the clubhouse and in various clubs around LA. He also liked to mingle with Hollywood stars. During the season he struck up a friendship with Doris Day. And according to Wills’s book “On the Run” published in 1991, he and Day became lovers. 

Well, in 1962 a man of color dating a white woman was not widely accepted. Bavasi got wind of the liaison and called Wills into his office demanding he break it off with Day. You youngsters out there may not know of her, but Day was considered by many as America’s Sweetheart and the perfect girl next door. She was in a lot of romantic comedies with stars like Rock Hudson. She also was a prolific recording artist. 

Bavasi was worried about a public relations disaster for the Dodgers.  Anyway, Wills complied with Bavasi’s demands and stayed away although he and Day remained friends and he kept running.

Wills hit .300 for the first time in the majors in 1963. But he stole 40 bases. 64 less than the previous year. He also played in 31 fewer games and was thrown out more. All the stealing and sliding had left him bruised. LA Times columnist, Jim Murray, said his body was so bruised it looked like he had climbed out of a plane wreck.

Maury did not have a good World Series. He hit only .133 and scored one run and stole one base, but the Dodgers swept the Yankees on the arms of their pitchers and LA had its second title. 

The Dodger offense in 1964 was pitiful – they slipped to 82-80 and tied for 6th place. Wills hit .275 and stole 53 bases. Leading the NL for the 5th straight year. In 1965 they rebounded to go 97-65. Wills hit .286 and stole 94 bases. He then had a very good World Series hitting .367 and stealing 3 bases. 

In 1966 they won the pennant again. Wills for the first time in 6 years did not lead the league in steals. He dropped to 38 and a .273 avg. The Dodgers were swept in the series by the Orioles and were shut out the last 3 games. Wills had a miserable series hitting just .077.

Koufax retired after the World Series, announcing it before Bavasi could trade for another starting pitcher. Walter O’Malley had planned a goodwill trip for the team to Japan. Several players had begged off including Wills, but O’Malley told Maury he had to go. 

After playing a few games, Wills went AWOL. His knees were aching and he wanted doctors in LA to check him out. But Maury went to Hawaii first and played his banjo in a couple of shows with Don Ho and Sammy Davis Jr. He stated that he had been relaxing and wasn’t sure when he would return to the mainland. He said the trip to Japan was more important to O’Malley than it was to him… and that Walter was probably pretty mad he left.

Mad was putting it mildly. Already in a foul mood after Koufax’s retirement announcement on the 18th of November, O’Malley said Wills had embarrassed the Japanese and the Dodgers and ordered Bavasi to ship him out of LA. Buzzie did just that trading Maury to the Pirates for SS Gene Michael and 3B Bob Bailey on the 1st of December.

Maury was shocked. He could not believe it. He had found a home in LA and never thought they would trade him. He spent 2 years with the Pirates. He tied his career-high BA hitting .302 in 67. But his leading the league in steals days were behind him. He was surrounded by some very good players on the Pirates, but in those days the Buccos were not a winning team. He hit .278 in 1968 but was exposed to the NL expansion draft and plucked by the Expos from the Pirates.

In 1969 with the Expos, he was not doing very well. Hitting in the low .200’s, he was dealt back to the Dodgers on June 11th with Manny Mota for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich. He became the Dodger’s primary SS and played in 104 games there. He hit .297 for the Dodgers stealing 25 bases which when added to what he did in Montreal gave him 40 for the year. 

Obviously, with a need at the position, O’Malley had a change of heart. But not really. He was uncertain about bringing Wills back since he had basically quit on the Expos and had been called out about it by the Expos owner.  But Campanis felt strongly and O’Malley allowed his GM to bring Maury back. Bavasi was now in San Diego running the Padres. 

Maury spent the next two seasons as the Dodgers primary SS. He hit .270 in 70, and .281 in 71. But his steals dropped off from 28 in 70 to only 15 in 71. His days as a starter were clearly numbered and his replacement, a converted outfielder named Bill Russell was starting to make progress at the position. 

In 1972, at 39 years of age, Maury was through. He only played in 71 games and hit a paltry .129. He was released after the season was over and retired. 

Wills then took a job with the game of the week on NBC. His son, Bump, broke in with the Rangers in 1977. Wills let it be known he would like to manage. Bavasi encouraged him to take a minor league job first. But the Mariners thought Wills was ready and he was hired to replace Darrell Johnson in August of 1980. He could not turn a terrible Mariners club around and went 20-38 to finish the year.

It got no easier in 1981, and after a 6-18 start, they let him go. The reaction in the Seattle clubhouse was one of relief. Many thought Maury made some really weird decisions. One time calling for a relief pitcher and forgetting he had no one warming up in the pen. 

Wills had bigger problems. He had begun to use drugs and alcohol and was sometimes high for 10 days at a time. He spent more than a million dollars on cocaine. He did not care if he lived or died. He was in and out of rehab. Finally, Tommy Davis, Don Newcombe, and Fred Claire urged him to get clean. He had been arrested on numerous charges including auto theft.

The Dodgers invited him to spring training in 2001 as a base-stealing instructor. Maury served in that position for 15 years. He now lives in Sedona and is finally at peace with his life.

Examining Will’s career you can see that he brought the stolen base back into the game at a level that had not been seen in many years. Others followed and his 104 bags would soon be passed more than once. Lou Brock would steal  118 bases in 1974. Vince Coleman stole over 100 three straight years, 85,86,87. Ricky Henderson would shatter Brock’s mark in 1982 with 130. Henderson is the only other player besides Coleman to swipe 100 or more 3 times.

Wills never received more than 40% of the Hall of Fame vote and was not voted in by the new version of the Veterans Committee. But he did change the game dramatically. I loved watching the guy play, and he was one of those players you had to watch. The chants are still loud…go go go……..