Kavula: Print the Legend: The Case for Maury Wills

Maury Wills belongs in the KappelHOF…and that’s about it!

Though generally considered a Hall of Fame-caliber performer while active, [Maury Wills] can be seen in retrospect to be only a middling offensive player.

  —Eric Enders, Dodger Thoughts, September 21, 2009

There is perhaps no 60s-era Dodger who more represents the divide between the old and new schools of baseball analysis than Maury Wills.  It’s almost as if his case were designed to pick a fight.  He is a speed player—credited, probably incorrectly, with bringing speed back to the game—when we know now that speed is not as important as other aspects of offense.  He received an MVP award—one that is mocked today, sometimes called one of the poorest choices in MVP history.  Though there are those who still lobby his Hall of Fame case, he has been judged for that by the people most likely to appreciate his skill and found wanting.  He has also been dismissed as a “no-threader” (as in “we need no thread to discuss him”) by the Hall of Merit.  There is no groundswell effort for a new look at Wills’ career. For fans born too late or too far away to have witnessed his game firsthand—and I’m one of them—it can be tough to have an appreciation for Wills and what he means.

But this is not the Hall of Fame; this is the Vin Scully Lords of the Ravine, and I believe Maury Wills has a good case to be considered one of the most legendary of Los Angeles Dodgers.  He holds a unique place in Dodger history.