Luis Clemente Tiant Vega, or simply Luis Tiant or “El Tiante”, could not be confused with any other Latin American pitcher in the major leagues. Tiant was one of a kind: for decades, he maintained a unique and unrepeatable pitching style that often involved turning completely away from the batter while pitching.
The man with the mustache in the style of the Chinese villain Fu Manchu, with exaggerated contortions before pitching, a fastball in excess of 90 mph, a cigar in his mouth. The charismatic cuban, was one of the most successful pitchers to have passed through the American major leagues; but also one of the few players who experienced firsthand the hard sacrifices and long struggles necessary to succeed at the highest level of the game.
El Tiante: Origins
Luis Tiant was always a noble, kind and cheerful man. Born in Marianao, Havana, Cuba, on November 23, 1940, he showed a passion for baseball from an early age, and his father, Luis Tiant, was a former star of the Almendares Blues and the Negro Leagues.
However, it is said that his father never encouraged him to pursue a career, believing that there were very few opportunities for a black man in the world of Major League Baseball.
Nevertheless, Tiante, as he was known, made it to the major leagues in 1964. With his pitches, he challenged every batter he faced in an extremely difficult era for pitchers, as those who stepped into the batter’s box were respected worldwide for their high level of play.
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But that never stopped Tiante, who pitched in the Mexican League and the minor leagues for 5 years before making his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians. Four years after his major league debut, Tiant won 21 games and lost only 9, struck out 264 batters, pitched 19 complete games, threw 9 shutouts, and posted a 1.60 earned run average (ERA).
After 6 years with the Cleveland Indians, Tiant was signed by the Minnesota Twins just before the start of the 1970 season. Over the course of the year, Tiante had a 7-3 record, but a shoulder injury would prematurely end his season and lead to his release by the Twins at the end of the season.
The return of a great baseball player
For any other player, an injury and almost immediate release from a team would have been the end of their sports career. But Tiant was able to recover and play for the Boston Red Sox.
During his eight years in Boston, Tiant was in his best form, although his career did not take off the way one would have expected. In his first year, he won only one game and lost seven. It took some time for the man from Marianao to recover and turn the statistics in his favor.
In 1972, Tiant won 15 games and lost only 6, with a 1.91 ERA, numbers that earned him the title of American League Comeback Player of the Year, an award for the best return of a player to the major leagues.
The charismatic right-hander was second among Latin American pitchers with 2,416 strikes. The man with the heavy Latin accent when speaking English was also the Cuban pitcher with the most wins in the Major Leagues (229), achieved 20 or more wins in a series three times, and repeated the feat of striking out more than 200 batters in a single season three times.
Reggie Jackson called Luis Tiant the “Fred Astaire of baseball” because of his pitching motion.
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Tiant’s best single season came in 1968. On that occasion, he averaged a 1.60 ERA, breaking records and ranking as the second best since 1919.
Six years after his best season in ’68, no one could deny that Tiant carried the weight of the Boston Red Sox on his shoulders. In the 1974 season, the team finished third in the East Division with a record of 84 wins, of which he was credited with 22 victories.
Toward the end of his career, Tiant left Boston and played two seasons with the New York Yankees, one with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and one with the California Angels before retiring in 1982.
No path to Cooperstown
Although Luis Tiant was not elected, he was the first of those eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame five years after his retirement, in 1987.
However, he never came close to being elected, and the most votes he received came in his first year of voting. On that occasion, Tiant did not even top half a percent of the nominations, reaching a meager 30.9%.
Many have never agreed with his induction into the Hall of Fame, but Tiante’s statistics, amid injuries and team changes, were at the level of the best in the major leagues. However, the man from Marianao never found himself immortalized in Cooperstown during the 15 times he was eligible.
Tiant told his family not to accept his Hall of Fame induction if it occurs after his death.
