"Pierre, The Student"? Student of What?

I know, I know, it was just a scant hour ago when I gave props to Juan Pierre for showing up to spring training camp early, ahead of almost all the other Dodgers position players. But then, I read this tidbit from Ken Gurnick's notes on mlb.com:

Pierre the student: The scouting report on Juan Pierre is that he's the first one to get to the park and the last to leave, and a $44 million contract hasn't changed that. He's been in training camp voluntarily since it opened to pitchers and catchers, and he wasted no time getting to his first tutorial with instructor Maury Wills, who bounces around like he's 20 years younger than his 74 years.

It was 45 years ago when Wills stole 104 bases and won the MVP award.

"It's unheard of for a guy of our kind of skills in that era he played in to win the MVP," said Pierre, a student of baseball history. "Just to get the chance to work with him is almost a dream come true. I just want to pick his brain. I know he changed the game. He was the only one doing what he was doing.

Let's play that quote again. "It's unheard of for a guy of our kind of skills in that era he played in to win the MVP." Who's talking there? Yoda? There are so many misplaced modifiers and awkward clauses in there that I can't tell what the heck Pierre is saying.

Maybe Pierre needs to report early for Grammar 101 class as well. He can sit right next to Ken Gurnick.