Thursday, August 11, 2016

#437-438 Maury Wills

Before Rickey and before Lou there was Maury....5 consecutive year leader for  stolen bases starting in 1960.....Busted the all time season mark of Ty Cobb with 104 in 1962...technically broke the mark by swiping 97 in 156 games avoiding a Ruth/Maris asterisk situation....Broke in with the Dodgers during the Sophomore year in L.A....prior to that toiled in minors for 8 seasons..... A Chavez Ravine fixture when it opened... experienced the Dodger threepeat of WS wins 1959, 1963, and 1965...worked at his game, actually hitting better in majors than in minors...Took in the L.A. celebrity scene too singing and playing the banjo ....traded to Pittsburgh who took him away from his natural shortstop position to third base...not quite sure what the Bucs were expecting in production, but Maury was offered up for expansion draft...taken by Expos....less than stellar start resulted in swap with and return to  L.A.....Gave Dodger several solid years sans the massive stolen base figures...hit .281 with the Dodgers and .281 for a career....father of Bump Wills....short lived managing with Seattle 1980-81...holds a record of oddity appearing in 165 games in one season in his MVP which took place 1962....his in action card is in the right place now.




5 comments:

  1. If it took him 156 games to pass Cobb, then he wouldn't avoid the Ruth/Maris asterisk, as they only played 154 games prior to the 1960s.

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  2. yes time does catch up sometimes very quickly. Dodgers were bringing up a ton of talent at the time so he just couldn't try to work his way out of a 0 for 18 start. By the end of June he was pretty much done and Bill Russell takes over.

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  3. The hat looks airbrushed in the 72 card. The hat in his 69 card is obviously airbrushed - as he is wearing a Pirate uniform. His picture in the 70 card is obviously an older picture from his earlier days with the Dodgers.

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    1. Good point. The photo has a weird a blue screen effect like bad special effects. The 1970 card photo probably was taken at a time he didn't have a TOPPs card.

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