Maury Wills Dies at Age 89 - I am Grateful for Him

    I learned today that this speedy lifetime Dodger died. I realize that I owe a lot to him, a D.C. native, because he became the speed demon on the bases that led to me later growing to love my favorite player of all time a decade later, Tim Rock Raines.

    Wills made it cool to steal bases in 1962, as I heard described by Charlie Sloughs on the Nats-Braves broadcast tonight. He stole 104 that pivotal year, which broke the record to that point. Then Lou Brock became the stolen base master, which led to my favorite guy Tim Raines in 1981, and his American League counterpart Ricky Henderson.

    Maybe if I had never become enamored of the game Raines played when I was 10 I would never had paid as much attention to the game. Raines kept me interested, for his more than two decades of play, until I was in my thirties. And then I picked other players to follow. 

    Thus it is, generations of fans.

    There is something in the game that captures the imagination. Speed, power, craftiness, strategy, patience, wisdom. 

    Statistics. The parks, the crowds, the lore, the poetry.

    Thanks for running those bases, Maury! May you run forever in our hearts and with your loved ones. You will be remembered fondly by millions, and your contributions on and off the field.