WHAT MAKES MANIAC A LEGEND?

From the text:

Buzzing about the new kid in town. The stranger kid. Scraggly. Carrying a book. Flap-soled sneakers.
The kid who intercepted Brian Denehy's pass to Hands Down and punted it back longer than Denehy himself ever threw it.
The kid who rescued Arnold Jones from Finsterwald's backyard.
The kid who tattooed Giant John McNab's fastball for half a dozen home runs, then circled the sacks on a bunted frog.
Nobody knows who said it first, but somebody must have: "Kid's gotta be a maniac."
And somebody else must have said: "Yeah, reg'lar maniac."
And somebody else: "Yeah."
And that was it. Nobody (except Amanda Beale) had any other name for him, so pretty soon, when they wanted to talk about the new kid, that's what they called him: Maniac.
The legend had a name.