In 1961, the entire national league stole 468 bases. In a game in chicago against the cubs, he took off for second base and. The stolen base is on a slow, steady decline in major. When he shattered ty cobbs 47yearold single season record of 96 stolen bases in 1962, with 104 steals, wills revolutionized the game. Maury wills can run, hit, field and steal bases talents that dont help out at the typewriter. But the tactic fell into relative disuse after babe ruth introduced the era of the home run in 1955, for example, no one in baseball stole more than 25 bases, and dom dimaggio won the al stolen base title in 1950 with just 15. Apr 17, 2015 there was a time when maury wills was concerned about his name ending up on a bust in cooperstown. Jul 17, 2007 the legs that once carried maury wills into the record books have long since lost their kick. But it was maury wills who brought back the art of the steal from the deadball era of. Judge makes a case for maury wills orange county register. Ty cobb, luis aparicio, maury wills, lou brock, rickey henderson, and others. In 1962, wills stole 104 bases to set a new mlb stolen base record, breaking the old modern era mark of 96, set by ty cobb in 1915. Feb 19, 2012 old video of the hall of fame baseball player ty cobb.
It pays to steal by wills, maury and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. He is best known for stealing 104 bases in 1962, eclipsing a 47yearold record. Wills spent 15 years on the baseball hall of fame ballot. Maury put out another record in 63 backed up by a group called the maury wills folk singers. Dee gordon 3rd fastest dodger to 50 stolen bases in a season. Im pretty sure most mlb teams dont even steal 100 games a season anymore. Have the dodgers finally found their missing element. The never dull and often shocking life of maury wills wills, maury. At the time this book was printed, wills was a wellknown recentlyretired ballplayer with a burgeoning career in broadcasting.
Wills enjoyed his greatest year as he topped the century mark stealing 104 bases and led the nl in games, plate appearances, atbats, triples and caught stealing as he batted. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, the times does. In his early years on the writers ballot for the baseball hall of fame, maury wills might have looked destined for enshrinement, at least to those who follow voting closely. Watch ty cobb hitting, running, and stealing bases. Maury wills, meanwhile, will have signs so simple only a dummy could misread them. Dee gordon 3rd fastest dodger to 50 stolen bases in a. That number rose to 788 in 1962, and in 1970, the nl had 1,045 stolen bases mainly because of maury wills, who blazed a new trail for baseball. When wills finally did break cobbs record by stealing an absurd 104 bases more bases than any team stole that year, except the dodgers of course, frick placed a similar marislike asterisk next to that new record in the record book, because wills did not get the recordbreaking 97 th steal until after 154 games were played. This rule now says that if a runner is picked off and tries to advance, he is charged with caught stealing. I could understand why anticipation would exist for this book. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that. The numbers in parentheses in this table are the numbers of events actually analyzed.
Total zone rating and initial framework for wins above replacement calculations provided by sean smith. He finished the season playing every inning of the dodgers 165 games and stealing 104 bases. Secrets of base stealing benedict steals 2,147 bases in 10. Before maury wills came along, the art of stealing bases, a big part of the game in its early days, had nearly been forgotten. The new dodger stadium freed him up to have a recordshattering 1962. In 1976, maury wills wrote a book called how to steal a pennant. Im glad to get it behind me, brock said to the associated press. Every day, well send you an email to your inbox with scores, todays schedule, top performers, new debuts and interesting tidbits.
A national league mvp, an allstar shortstop, a captain of the dodgers. Maury wills interesting stories about famous people. On the run 1st edition1st printing by wills, maury. He wrote in one of his books, i didnt care if i died. Online shopping from a great selection at books store. Tim mccarver, a longtime catcher for the cardinals and other teams once said, we used to kid around that a dodger rally consisted of a maury wills bunt for a single, wills stealing second base, wills moving to third on a sacrifice, and then wills scoring on a wild pitch. Although the man who in 1962 broke ty cobbs singleseason base stealing. Wills was a star football quarterback and baseball pitcher for cardozo high school washington, d. As a player, wills starred at shortstop and revolutionized the game, stealing 104 bases for the 1962 dodgers and singlehandedly bringing back the oldtimey baseball of ty cobb with aggressive base running, base stealing and allaround heads up play. Maury wills had to beg for a raise, even though his prowess at stealing bases a pursuit that left him a permanent welt revolutionized the sport. A familiar scene for maury wills, who was perhaps bestknown for his prowess in stealing bases.
I loved getting inside the heads of some of the characters from head games that had played a little more of an outfield role. However, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, base stealing was brought back to prominence primarily by luis aparicio and maury wills, who broke cobbs modern singleseason record by stealing 104 bases in 1962. In 1966, brock ended maury wills sixyear reign as the national leagues stolen base champion with 74 steals. Traditional baseball wisdom holds to playing by the book. Aug 18, 2008 before maury wills came along, the art of stealing bases, a big part of the game in its early days, had nearly been forgotten. Maury wills has the law on his side in hall of fame bid. Is dodgers great maury wills hall of fame moment coming. Maury wills named one of 10 golden era committee hall of fame. In 1962, he stole 104 bases and became the first major leaguer with. Maury wills baseball stats with batting stats, pitching stats and fielding stats.
Wills and the dodgers missed the postseason in 1964, but rebounded to. Its more fun than stealing bases, said maury wills, as he donned a redandwhitestriped vest, picked up a fivestring banjo and joined a dixieland band below in st. Wills is the baseball star who broke ty cobbs record for bases stolen and did for baseball what cassius clay is doing for boxing he made people, who wouldnt ordinarily bother. Maurice morning wills born october 2, 1932 is an american former professional baseball. Lou brock sat in the box seats in the milwaukee ball park the other night, watched rickey henderson steal a base for the 119th time this season, then walked onto the field and handed second base. The never dull and often shocking life of maury wills new york. Teams looked at wills style of play and realized they could change the outcome of the game by having their own speedsters. May 12, 2011 stealing bases was a book i had quite high expectations for while it didnt quite live up to every expectation i had for it after reading head games, it was still a stellar read that i absolutely devoured. Wills success in base stealing that year led to another remarkable statistic, he was.
Did you know maury wills wrote in his autobiography, on the run. If the surname you are researching is found in this hefty publication, you may have hit the proverbial genealogical goldmine as the full text of each will along with inventory is published intact and includes everything from bequeaths of land, homes, and livestock to beds, pots, pans, and clothing. In wills case it must also be noted that 10 of his 21 pickoffs would have been counted as caught stealing under an addition to rule 10. The night lou brock broke the record for steals in a. Steal the pennant is another phrase hes in love with, using it over and over again in increasingly awkward conjugations. The never dull and often shocking life of maury wills. Win expectancy, run expectancy, and leverage index calculations provided by tom tango of, and coauthor of the book. Maury wills page at the bullpen wiki are you a stathead. And if you dont steal bases, you arent going to steal any pennants.
Ozzie smith not only had a lesser batting average and fewer stolen bases than wills, he went without. Dodgers respect team play and judgment of maury a nonsteal situation. Rare ty cobb video hitting, running, stealing, and swing. In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate. In 1965 i was 40 games ahead of my recordsetting basestealing pace of.
The never dull and often shocking life of maury wills wills, maury, celizic, mike on. Base stealing was popular in the games early decades, with speedsters such as ty cobb and clyde milan stealing nearly 100 bases in a season. This book traces the history of the stolen base and stealing in the major leagues from its humble beginnings through its current status as an indispensable part of a teams offense. The stolen base is one of the most fascinating plays in all of sports. Salaries may not be complete especially pre1985 and may not include some earned bonuses. Racism was virulent, in spite of the burgeoning civil rights movement. Just five years later, maury wills 104 stolen base mark would signify the shift toward what roger angell would write of as a combination of tapball and hotwheels base running.
Hitting charts legendary lists pitching charts record books rules scoring. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that delivers. The man that literally brought the art of base stealing back to the major leagues. Maury wills had to beg for a raise, even though his prowess at stealing basesa pursuit that left him a permanent weltrevolutionized the sport. Oct 03, 20 maury wills lead the national league six straight times in stolen bases from 1960 1965. Maury wills, american professional baseball player and manager, who set base stealing records in his playing career. But you definitely have to like the fact that with the addition of machado and dozier, there is a good chance that we could see as many or perhaps even more total stolen bases this year than the combined 77 dodgers stolen bases during the 2017 season. Base running events are defined here as stolen bases sb, caught stealing cs, and pickoffs p0. Wills, who was 29 years old that season, led baseball with 165 games played, 759 plate appearances, 695 atbats and 104 stolen bases. Wills and the dodgers missed the postseason in 1964, but rebounded to capture the nl flag in 1965. Was anyone more suited to be a bigleague manager than maury wills. Eventually lou brock and rickey henderson would each succeed in establishing new stolen base records of 118 and bases respectively. In 1962, wills stole 104 bases to set a new mlb stolen base record, breaking the old modern era mark of 96, set by ty.
Wills record was broken in turn by lou brock in 1974, and rickey henderson in 1982. For six years running from 19601965 he led the national league in stolen bases. The beginning part of this book is an extended resume as wills makes his play to become a major league manager. The art of base stealing provides not only a detailed explanation of how to steal a base, but tips from various major league players along with humorous anecdotes about stealing bases and a whole bunch of records and statistics. I had to stop stealing bases in august, ive always though that i had not been stopped by a recurrence of the hemorrhaging, i could have stolen 140 or even 150 bases that year. No longer worried about cooperstown, maury wills enjoys. This examination of a large number of events for one of the more significant base runners of all time allows some meaningful conclusions to be drawn concerning stolen bases. An illustrated history, it is noted that during the first seven years of the 1950s, not one of the 16 mlb teams had stolen 100 bases. Obviously, this is still a far cry from the maury wills era dodgers and even from the 2017 dodgers.
Autobiography of maury wills, who broke ty cobbs base stealing record. Mar 09, 2015 was anyone more suited to be a bigleague manager than maury wills. Dodgers great maury wills and the allstar game he almost. Wills was a significant distraction to the pitcher even if he didnt try to steal, because he was a constant threat to do so.
On the run the never dull and often shocking life of maury wills. Maury wills, the man who broke ty cobbs basestealing record, tells how he bacame the professional athlete of the year. In david halberstams book, october 1964, the author states that manager johnny keane asked brock to forgo hitting home runs in favor of stealing bases. He stole 104 bases in 1962, most in the major leagues since 1915, when hall of famer ty cobb stole 96. Gone are the days when brazen, prolific thieves such as henderson, vince coleman, tim raines, lou brock and maury wills might as well have been awarded second base by. Maury wills is the father of former major leaguer bump wills, who played for the texas rangers and chicago cubs for six seasons. Maury wills and the value of a stolen base society for. Baseball almanac is pleased to present all the maury wills books currently listed on the leading providing of online maury wills books. The two had a falling out following the publication of maury s autobiography in 1991, involving a salacious anecdote, but now occasionally speak. The dodgers allstar shortstop maury wills gets his 104th stolen base. Maury wills revolutionalized the game of baseball with his speed and ability to not only play defense, but to add to his offense by stealing bases.
Meanwhile, dodgers management was stingy with its nonunionized roster. Maury wills named one of 10 golden era committee hall of. For fans of modern baseball, it was luis aparicio who heralded in a new era of base stealing in the 1950s, an era that was soon punctuated by the feats of maury wills, who broke ty cobbs single season record in 1962. The aside is a track called the ballad of maury wills which actually features some banjo picking this time, but its not really a song so much as a corny spoken word piece where wills talks about the ten commandments, specifically the one. The never dull and often shocking life of maury wills, we him and movie star actress doris day. Maury wills society for american baseball research. This page has been copied from wikipedia under the provisions of the gnu free documentation license. He was an essential component of the dodgers championship teams in the mid1960s, and deserves much credit. That season, he began a streak of six consecutive years leading the nl in stolen bases.
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