TupaTalk: Maury Wills displayed incredible determination
Maury Wills remains one of the unique stories in pro baseball history.
The mostly lifetime Los Angeles Dodger player reached superstar status in the early 1960s. In 1962, he stole 104 bases to shatter long-standing single season record (96) set in 1915 by Ty Cobb.
Wills played until he was 40 — making his final major league appearance two days after his 40th birthday.
He went on to work in the Dodgers’ organization for 50 years, until his death earlier this week at age 89.
The emergence of the great — and classy — Lou Brock as baseball’s premier basestealer helped push Wills into the background, at least for younger generations of fans.
Then along came Rickey Henderson, who surpassed Brock and further lessened Wills’ achievements.
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Incidentally, I once had an odd encounter with Henderson. It happened when I had a press/photo pass to cover the Oakland A’s.
While I stood near the A’s dugout, Henderson went to the hole to take some cuts. I guess he thought I had a pleasant smile or something, because he chatted, while sporting a pleasant expression, briefly with me while getting ready to to the on-deck circle. Problem was the crowd noise obscured his words in my ears.
Anyway, Wills’ story of persistence remains heart warming.
Wills did not take a fast track to the bigs.
He endured eight years a minor leaguer before he finally got his real chance, at age 26 — and that was a bit of serendipity because the Dodgers called up Wills midway through the 1959 season after their starting shortstop broke his toe.
Up until then, Wills had played eight full seasons in the minors and started a ninth in the bushes prior to the Dodgers promoting him.
Prior to the 1959 season, the Tigers purchased Wills’ contract — but then returned him to the Dodgers.
A lot of players might have quit their big league dream after going through what Wills did.
But, whatever else one might think of him, Wills proved to have extraordinary determination and confidence he could achieve what he wanted. Those are assets for which all of us can strive.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: TupaTalk: Reflecting on the late Maury Wills
