Famed baseball base-stealer and shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Maury Wills, died Monday night at his home in Sedona, Arizona at 89.
Wills played three World Series championships with the Dodgers, including on a World Series title team in 1959, 1963 and 1965.
Wills also played baseball for Pittsburg's team and for Montreal before returning to the Dodgers in 1969 to play with the team until 1972.
No cause of death was given, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
As the New York Times reported, Wills set a modern major league record after stealing 104 bases in 1962, which beat the record set by Ty Cobb in 1915 at 96 stolen bases.
Later Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals would beat Wills' record by stealing 118 bases in 1974, and then Ricky Henderson beat the all-time record with the Oakland A's, setting the current record of 130 stolen bases in 1982.
Wills told the New York Times in 1962, “Stealing is a matter of confidence, even conceit.” He said, “It’s more than getting a good jump, a big lead. It’s being in the right frame of mind. I run with the thought that the pitcher will make a perfect throw and the catcher will make a perfect throw and I’ll still beat them. I don’t have a doubt."
Wills is survived by his third wife, Carla, and two sons, Barry and Bump. He also has four daughters, seven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and his siblings.
