Tiant Had All The Moves

My two favorite pictures of Luis Tiant pretty much sum up the man and his career. One is of Tiant celebrating a Boston Red Sox World Series game victory by smoking what seems to be a cigar the size of a baseball bat while he is icing his arm. The other is of the right-hander in motion, about to throw to the plate with his back almost turned completely to the batter.

That was Tiant, emotional and exuberant in triumph and magician-like and baffling in action. And now he is on the ballot under the category of veterans to be considered for the Hall of Fame in a vote taking place Dec. 5.

It was a delight watching Tiant pitch, mostly for the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox during a 19-season career between 1964 and 1982. He won 229 games during that span. His pitching style was peculiar, the opposite of textbook. If he had mechanics at all they were guys who worked on race cars in the 1920s. Tiant was one of those throwers whose form seemed to prove that pitching was more art than science, more improv than formulaic.

Tiant was one of the earliest prominent Major League ballplayers whose lives were complicated by Fidel Castro’s takeover of the Cuban government. Luis Tiant Sr., Tiant’s father, had been an accomplished pitcher, and his son was following his path. Tiant was playing ball in Mexico when he met his future wife during the summer of 1961 and wanted to bring her home to Cuba to introduce her to his family. However, his father warned him away, saying that changes were underway that might trap him on the island and interfere with him ever making it to the top in the United States.

Tiant became an exile–and a star–but to his heartbreak he did not see his parents and other relatives again for ages. It took Congressional intervention, but Tiant’s parents were awarded visas to come to Boston. It was the first he saw them in 15 years.

Sometimes it seemed as if Tiant was doing the twist on the mound, to compare his gyrations to the song by Chubby Checker that was popular at the start of his career. But he got results. He won 20 or more games four times, three times for Boston and once for Cleveland. Tiant’s special season for the Indians was one for the ages. In 1968, he finished 21-9 with nine shutouts and an earned run average of 1.60. It is often joked about a batter in a slump that he is not even hitting his weight. You never hear anyone saying of a pitcher that his ERA is less than his weight. That 1.60 remains one of the finest single-season ERAs recorded by a starting pitcher since the deadball era ended in 1920.

Lifetime, Tiant was 229-172, a winning percentage of .571, and his ERA was 3.30. He had a good heater, but also fooled batters more than overpowered them, while still striking out 2,416 men. There is no single statistic on Tiant’s resume that alone screams for his inclusion in the Hall of Fame nearly 30 years after his retirement, but the body of his work suggests he is worthy. However, Tiant does not seem likely to be rated above several others on the 10-person ballot so it will be difficult for him to gather the 75 percent of the votes necessary for election.