Playing Career
In his first-full season (1960), Wills hit .295 and led the league with 50 stolen bases, being the first National League player to steal 50 since Max Carey stole 51 in 1923. Wills stole 104 bases in 1962 to set a new Major League record, breaking the old modern era mark of 96, set by Ty Cobb in 1915. Wills also outstole all of the other teams that year, the highest total being the Washington Senators' 99. Besides this, he hit .299, led the league in triples (10), and was selected the NL Most Valuable Player (beating out Willie Mays by seven points). Wills played a full 162 game schedule, plus all three games of the best of three regular season playoff series with the San Francisco Giants, giving him a total of 165 games played, a record that still stands for games played in a single season. His 104 steals remain a Major League record for switch-hitters.
Although Luis Aparicio had been stealing 50+ bases in the American League for several years prior to Wills' insurgence, Wills brought new prominence to the tactic. Perhaps this was due to greater media exposure in Los Angeles, or to the Dodgers' greater success, or to their extreme reliance on a low-scoring strategy that emphasized pitching, defense, and Wills' speed to compensate for their lack of productive hitters. Wills was a significant distraction to the pitcher even if he didn't try to steal, because he was a constant threat to do so. The fans at Dodger Stadium would chant, "Go! Go! Go, Maury, Go!" any time he got on base. A winner of the Gold Glove Award in 1961 and 1962, Wills was selected five times for the All-Star Game.
On September 21, 1969 in a game at Candlestick Park, against the Dodgers' arch-rival, the San Francisco Giants, with the score tied 3-3 in the 10th inning, Wills committed an error on Jim Davenport's ground ball, allowing Willie McCovey to score the winning run in walk-off fashion. Ironically, this game was the MLB debut of Bill Buckner, who would become infamous for committing an error that allowed the New York Mets to win Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
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