In 1962, Wills was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), breaking Ty Cobb’s 1915 record of 96 base steals with a record-breaking 104.
He played in seven All-Star Games and five seasons as an All-Star. In 1962, he won the Most Valuable Player award at the first MLB All-Star Game.
He was also the 1961 and 1962 Gold Glove winner. During the course of a fourteen-year career, Wills played 1,942 games and batted .281 with 20 home runs, 458 runs batted in, 2,134 hits, 1,067 runs, 177 doubles, 71 triples, 586 stolen bases, and 552 bases on balls.
Wills served as a representative of the Dodgers Legend Bureau for the Los Angeles Dodgers organization from 2009 until his passing in 2022.
Wills made his first appearance as a candidate on the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Golden Era Committee election ballot in 2014 for potential consideration for induction into the Hall of Fame in 2015, which required twelve votes. Wills was three votes short of being elected.
Every other contender on the ballot was similarly unsuccessful in winning the election. In the period between 1947 and 1972, the Committee met and decided on ten nominees every three years (this was replaced in 2016 by the Golden Days Era, which covered 1950–1969).
Will appeared on the Golden Days Era ballot once again in 2022, but he did not obtain enough votes to be inducted.
