1962 Mlb Debuts
Should Maury Wills be in the Hall of Fame? In 14 seasons from 1959-1972, Wills?
had:
Maury Wills
Shortstop
Born: October 2, 1932 (1932-10-02) (age 78)
Washington, D.C.
Batted: Both Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 6, 1959 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
October 4, 1972 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics
Batting average .281
Hits 2,134
Runs batted in 458
Stolen bases 586
Teams
Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–1966)
Pittsburgh Pirates (1967–1968)
Montreal Expos (1969)
Los Angeles Dodgers (1969–1972)
Career highlights and awards
7× All-Star selection (1961, 1961², 1962, 1962², 1963, 1965, 1966)
3× World Series champion (1959, 1963, 1965)
2× Gold Glove Award winner (1961, 1962)
1962 NL MVP
1962 MLB All-Star Game
Yeah, I thought he was overlooked. He was on the ballot for 15 years and never came anywhere close to election. He was almost exclusively a singles hitter with minimal power, so I think that worked against him (20 home runs in 14 years, eight of which he hit zero). Certainly the low RBI total couldn’t have helped him, although being a leadoff hitter didn’t give him many opportunities.
I watched Wills play for much of his career. I thought at the time he would be a Hall of Famer because of the way he could change a game because of his speed. Certainly as a Twins fan watching the 1965 Series, he gave me fits the way he set up innings for the Dodgers.
Maybe some day the Veterans Committee will take a more favorable look at Wills. I personally think it is not as much of a travesty that he’s not in there as much as Tony Oliva, Ron Santo, and a few others. But for those of us who watched him play, we were fortunate to see the greatest speedster of his day. Maybe without Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson surpassing his 104 steals in a season, things would have turned out differently.