Maurice Morning Wills (October 2, 1932 – September 19, 2022) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from 1959 to 1972, most prominently as an … See more

Minor leagues
Wills signed with the then-Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950, after graduating from high school. He spent eight years in the minor leagues for … See more

As a BBWAA candidate, Wills was on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for fifteen years, from 1978 to 1992, but never received more than 40.6% of the vote, falling far short of the … See more

After receiving the Hickok Belt in 1962, Wills was determined by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to have deficiencies in reported income and awards deductions. The See more

Wills was born in Washington, D.C., to Guy and Mable Wills, the seventh of thirteen children. His parents were originally from Maryland; his father, born in 1900, worked as a … See more

After retiring from playing professional baseball, Wills spent time as a baseball analyst at NBC from 1973 through 1977. He also managed in the Mexican Pacific League—a winter league—for four seasons, during which time he led the Naranjeros de … See more

Throughout most of his major league playing career, Wills supplemented his salary in the off-season by performing extensively as a vocalist and instrumentalist (on banjo, guitar, and ukulele), appearing occasionally on television and … See more