Gonna take a sentimental journey…and look back at Maury Wills and his 104 SB season.
When the season was over, and the Dodgers had lost a three-game playoff with San Francisco for the pennant that had extended the season to 165 games, Wills had stolen 104 bases and baseball had been changed. Small ball had become a viable way to win, and the Dodgers won the World Series three times from 1959 through ‘65.
Wills had six home runs and 48 runs batted in while batting .299 in ‘62, but it was enough to make him the league’s most valuable player. Second place that year was Willie Mays.
In stealing those 104 bases, Wills was caught only 13 times, but Wills says it was really only eight,. He says the other five were failed hit-and-runs when Jim Gilliam, hitting behind him, couldn’t get a bat on the ball.
...The stolen-base record eventually fell to Lou Brock, who stole 118 in 1974. But Wills has one record that probably will never be topped — he played in all 165 games in that extended 1962 season. “I’m pretty sure I played every inning,” he says.
...The one missing item in his resume is a spot in baseball’s Hall of Fame, but he is still under consideration for induction by MLB’s Veterans’ Committee.
The Times’ late columnist Jim Murray may have had the best summary of that.
“What am I doing in the Hall of Fame if Maury Wills can’t get in one?” Murray said.
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1. Howie Menckel Posted: April 10, 2012 at 08:15 AM (#4102446)Daryl Spencer started one of those 165 G at SS.
He appeared in 10 G there, 9 in "relief," for a total of 37.3 innings.
Dick Tracewski got into 4 G at SS for a total of 6 innings, and Larry Burright logged an inning as well.
That's a total of 44.3 innings, or about 5 games worth of Wills not playing SS.
Also, Ron Santo DID play every inning of 164 games in 1965, for a total of 1472 innings, effectively about 3 games worth of extra activity.
Billy Williams also had 1472 innings for the Cubs in that same season in the same 164 G, all over the OF.
At 1B, Ernie Banks slacked off with 163 G and 1435.6 innings.
Wills doesn't even hold the Dodgers record for innings - Steve Garvey, for one, racked up 1460.6 in 162 G in 1980.
Maybe he should have asked his seeing-eye dog if he really couldn't figure that one out.
player team wins Rs RBI outs def
W Mays. SF 103 130 141 458 uberCF
F Robby CIN .98 134 136 428 RF
T Davis .LA. 102 120 153 461 LF
M Wills. .LA. 102 130 .48 514 SS
anyone think playing SS was worth 50 runs and 50 outs??
crime paid off, but not enough to win the pennant
This made me wonder - does the new Wild Card play-in game count as a regular season game or postseason game for statistical purposes?
I hope Wills waited a few years before throwing his teammate under the bus, what a jackass.
I'm sure it's happened before but I haven't ever heard another player complain that his caught stealings were because of busted hit-and-runs. Seems awfully petty.
Pretty sure its a postseason game.
When he stole the base anyway, it was because he was AWESOME!
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