Luis Tiant obit

Luis Tiant, Boston Red Sox pitching legend, dies at 83

 

Luis Tiant, who came up with the Cleveland Indians in the 1960s and dominated the 1970s as a member of the Boston Red Sox, died at the age of 83 on Tuesday.

He was not on the list.

Longtime Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians pitcher Luis Tiant has died at the age of 83, CBS Boston reported Tuesday morning.

The cause of death is not yet publicly known.

Tiant, who was born in Marianao, Cuba, made his MLB debut with Cleveland in 1964. After a one-year stint with the Minnesota Twins, Tiant joined the Red Sox in 1971 and remained with the club through 1978.

Following a handful of seasons with the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates and California Angels, Tiant retired in 1982.

Tiant went 229-172 over the course of his big league career, posting a 3.30 ERA, 1.199 WHIP and 2,416 strikeouts with 187 complete games and 49 shutouts across 19 seasons. He won two ERA titles, reached 20 wins in four separate seasons, was named an All-Star three times and placed top-six in Cy Young voting in 1972, 1974 and 1976.

While he was never voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame – either by the Baseball Writers' Association of America or the hall's numerous era committees – Tiant earned plenty of other accolades over the years. He was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997, the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009 and the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2012.

Tiant racked up a 66.1 WAR, which is the second-highest by any Cuban-born player in MLB history. No other Cuban pitcher has reached 200 wins or 2,200 strikeouts, nor have they posted a career WAR above 43.9.

"El Tiante" strung together a dominant 1975 postseason with the Red Sox, leading his team to four wins with a 2.65 ERA and 1.147 WHIP. Boston fell to the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series, losing Game 7 by one run, costing Tiant a shot at earning a championship ring.

Still, Tiant was a beloved figure in and around Red Sox Nation. He and Carlton Fisk threw out the first pitch before Game 6 of the 2013 World Series at Fenway Park, which turned out to be the clincher for Boston.

Tiant ranks fifth in Red Sox history in wins and pitching WAR, on top of ranking seventh in strikeouts.

Tiant compiled a 229–172 record with 2416 strikeouts, a 3.30 earned run average (ERA), 187 complete games, and 49 shutouts in 3486+1⁄3 innings. He was an All-Star for three seasons and 20-game winner for four seasons. He was the American League (AL) ERA leader in 1968 and 1972. He also was the AL leader in strikeouts per nine innings pitched in 1967 and the AL leader in shutouts in 1966, 1968, and 1974.

He was inducted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997, the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame in 2002, the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009, and the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2012.

Tiant is the only child of Luis Tiant Sr. and Isabel Vega. From 1926 through 1948, the senior Tiant was a great left-handed pitcher for the Negro league's New York Cubans during the summer and the Cuban professional league's Cienfuegos in the winter, his heroics being followed by hundreds of thousands of Cubans. Luis Jr. followed in his father's footsteps at an early age, joining both the local Little and Juvenile baseball leagues and rising to a star.

The 16 year-old Tiant was picked for the Cuban Juvenile League All-Star team in 1957. His talent drew the attention of former Cleveland Indians All-Star Bobby Ávila, who was scouting for talent in Cuba. Avila recommended him to the Mexico City Tigers of the Mexican League. Tiant was signed in 1959 for $150 a month, and for the next three years he divided his time between the Tigers and the Havana Sugar Kings in the International League.

At the end of the summer of 1961, and under Avila's recommendation, Cleveland purchased Tiant's contract for $35,000. But with the rise of Fidel Castro's regime in his native Cuba—specifically, after heightened tensions following the US-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion in April of that year—it was impossible for Tiant to return home. He did not see his parents for 14 years.

Tiant progressed through the Indians' farm system beginning in 1962 with the Jacksonville Suns and the Charleston Indians of the Eastern League, then with the Burlington Rangers—where he was one of the best pitchers in the Carolina League—in 1963, and lastly with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1964. Tiant later recalled that at Charleston, "I couldn't speak very good English but I understand racism. They treated me like a dog, but when I got to Portland, I didn't have any problems." After pitching to a 15–1 record at Triple-A Portland, which included a no-hitter and a one-hitter in consecutive starts, Tiant was called up by the Indians in mid-July 1964.

On July 19, 1964, Tiant debuted in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians with a four-single, 11 strikeout, 3–0 shutout victory against the defending AL Champion New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, beating their ace, Whitey Ford. Tiant finished his rookie season with a 10–4 win–loss record, 105 strikeouts, and a 2.83 earned run average (ERA) in 19 games.

In 1968, Tiant had one of the greatest pitching seasons in major league history, leading the American League in ERA (1.60), shutouts (nine, including four consecutive), hits per nine innings (a still-standing franchise record 5.30, which broke Herb Score's 5.85 in 1956 and would be a Major-League record until surpassed by Nolan Ryan's 5.26 in 1972), and strikeouts per nine innings (9.22), while finishing with a 21–9 mark. His .168 opponent batting average set a new major league record, and his 19 strikeout/10 inning performance against the Minnesota Twins on July 3 set the American League record for strikeouts in a game. His 1.60 ERA in 1968 was the lowest in the AL in nearly half a century (since Walter Johnson's dead-ball era 1.49 in 1919), second only in the Major Leagues in that time to National Leaguer (St. Louis Cardinals) Bob Gibson's historic 1.12 the same year—the lowest mark ever during the live-ball era. And his four consecutive shutouts had been matched or bettered by only two other pitchers in the 50-year expansion era, both also in 1968: Don Drysdale (six) and Gibson again (five).

With Sam McDowell, Sonny Siebert, and others, the Indians staff led the AL in strikeouts for five consecutive years, including a record 1189 in 1967, a mark which would stand for 30 years.

After an injury-plagued season with the Indians in 1969, Tiant was traded to the Minnesota Twins in a multi-player deal that brought fellow pitcher Dean Chance and third baseman Graig Nettles to the Indians. With Minnesota, Tiant began 1970 with six wins, but then he fractured his right scapula, essentially ending his season and, some felt, his career. He showed some promise in the 1971 spring training, but he was released.

After being dropped by the Twins in spring training of 1971, the Atlanta Braves signed Tiant to a minor league contract to play with their Triple-A minor league Richmond team. Tiant began the process of reinventing himself as a pitcher by altering his delivery so that he turned away from home plate during his motion, in effect creating a hesitation pitch. According to Tiant, the new motion was a response to a drop in his velocity from his shoulder injury. Twisting and turning his body into unthinkable positions, Tiant would spend more time looking at second base than he did the plate as he prepared to throw.

An avid cigar smoker, Tiant launched a line of cigars that he formulated and designed, branding them with his nickname, El Tiante. Tommy John remembered Tiant's cigars only too well from their days in the Indians organization. "Luis would smoke these horrendous, long, Cuban cigars. We'd be on the bus all night, and wake up to a thick blue haze from Tiant's ropes. Tiant had an almost supernatural ability for keeping a cigar lit. Luis would cut up in his high-pitched voice, joking, cackling, and the eternal flame held true. He could even take a shower and keep his stogie going. In the confined space of a bus, the smoke would gag you. He'd fall asleep on the bus, but the cigar would somehow stay alive all night."

Tiant appeared in an episode of Cheers, "Now Pitching, Sam Malone", which first aired on January 6, 1983. Sam Malone (Ted Danson) agrees to do a television beer commercial, co-starring with and "relieving" Tiant when the latter begins to fail in his promotion of the product.

Tiant has authored two autobiographies:

El Tiante, the Luis Tiant story, written with Joe Fitzgerald, released in 1976

Son of Havana: A Baseball Journey from Cuba to the Big Leagues and Back, written with Saul Wisnia, released in May 2019.

Tiant is the subject of the documentary film The Lost Son of Havana, produced by Kris Meyer and the Farrelly brothers, and directed by Jonathan Hock. The story of his return visit to his roots in Cuba had its world premiere on April 23, 2009, at the Tribeca Film Festival, and was promptly acquired by ESPN Films.

 

MLB statistics

Win–loss record  229–172

Earned run average            3.30

Strikeouts            2,416

Teams

Cleveland Indians (1964–1969)

Minnesota Twins (1970)

Boston Red Sox (1971–1978)

New York Yankees (1979–1980)

Pittsburgh Pirates (1981)

California Angels (1982)

Career highlights and awards

3× All-Star (1968, 1974, 1976)

2× AL ERA leader (1968, 1972)

Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame