Luis Tiant Red Sox Pitcher dies at 83

twentyfive
Living well and enjoying my retirement
Damn he was a giant in his time he played 19 seasons I believe 8 with the Red Sox, guy had the most unusual pitching motion we ever saw. He won 229 games in his career and I believe was the American League MVP 3 times
R. I. P. Luis Tiant

13 comments

Latest

clubdude
a month ago
Dang! I used to love his windup!
Studme53
a month ago
I copied his wind up when I pitched in wiffleball.
Joe Morgan at the plate.
motorhead
a month ago
It’s funny the things you remember from childhood. One year I remember he lost 20 games. (I had to look it up - it was 1969). When I saw that in the box scores I figured he must be the worst pitcher of all time. lol. Boy was I wrong.
motorhead
a month ago
I don’t remember this but just heard on ESPN that Castro let Tiant’s parents leave Cuba and visit their son in the US to see him pitch in the 1975 World Series.

I do remember hearing Castro was a huge baseball fan.
sfrsox
a month ago
RIP Loooooie
sfrsox
a month ago
@twenty five

he was a 3 time all star, never won the CY and certainly never won MVP
sfrsox
a month ago
I am now wondering if any Cuban strippers know who Luis Tiant was?
twentyfive
a month ago
@sfrsox
I remembered three time winner my bad he was a three time all star thanks for the correction
caseyx
a month ago
Loved his pitching motion. I'll always remember that time he fielded a ball off of his foot - "A kick save and a beauty," as Mel Allen put it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8hJVdbb…
crosscheck
a month ago
He was before my time but is regarded as a legend here in Boston. R.I.P.
skibum609
a month ago
El Tiante wasn't just a legend around here, he was beloved by one and all. Spoke English in the same awful accent his entire life, without improvement and we loved him for it. we loved him for his cigars. we loved him because when he'd walk arounf the city he was mobbed by everyone and everyone got a pic with him....no charge, he loved everyone.
It was more than that though. He was a young fireballer with the Clevelnad Indians, including a 20 win season. He nthen lost 20 games, was a medicore nothing the next 2 years, as he lost his fastball and then became a Red Sox. He invented a bizarre warm-up during which he would actually look at second base and because it was so wierd it was tough to pick up the pitch out of his hand and he became a winner again. In Boston we love those who excel, without apparent great physical skills, see Larry Bird, Tom Brady, and that is why we loved Luis Tiant who by the way after failing came back to suck in his first uear in Boston, going 1-7, resulting in a 3 year mark of 17-30. Then he exploded to go 134-72 over the next 8 years. He was a fucking horse with 187 complete games in 19 years and 49 shutouts.
Nowadays pitchers melt if they throw 100 pitches on 4-5 days rest, In the 1975 world series he threw a complete game shutout in game one. A complete game with in game 4, throwing 153 pitches and then followed it up with 8 innings and 113 pitches in the single greatest baseball game of all time: Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, which most people remember for Carlton Fisk's game winning homerun in the bottom of the 12th, one minute before curfew would have ended the game.
In Boston we know that Fisk's moment gets the most hype, but that the real hero of the game was Bernie Carbo, a bench player. I doubt anyone knows who he was but he was part of a group of red sox players called the Buffalo Heads, led by pitcher Bill "spaceman" Lee. Carbo used to travel with a stuffed gorilla who sat in the middle seat next to him on flights. In game 6 he decided to "fix" his bat so he put it on a lathe and smoothed it out beautifully. Rick Wise a pitcher said: " loos great, but you lathed off the logo so you can't use it cuz its now illegal". Carbo wrote "Louisville Slugger on it with a magic marker.
Now it is game 6, bottom of the 8th, 2 outs, 2 men on base ans he is told to go pinch hit. He thinks the Red's will change pitchers so he doesn;t take it seriously until the Ump says: "hey you were announced get in the batter's box". The video is worth watching because he wasn't even close to being ready to hit, there were 2 striles on him and his next swing was described by Pete Rose as "the worst swing I ever saw", by Johnny bench as "he looked like a little leaguer learning how to hit" and his teammate Rico Petrocelli as" apitcher who had hurt his arm and was failing in his comeback as a hitter". Of course it ended up in the centerfield bleachers for a 3 run homerun tying the game and setting the stage for Fisk's heroics.https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/re…
On a side note: After Fisk's homerun and with the streaking craze going wild about 2-3,000 of my fellow Umass students and I took off our clothes and ran around outside naked.
magicrat
a month ago
I saw Bernie Carbo play many times here in Asheville. I also know the pitcher who gave it up!
rockie
a month ago
"El Tiante" will remain an icon in Boston sports. RIP!
You must be a member to leave a comment.Join Now
Got something to say?
Start your own discussion