We say happy # 76 to the great Tiant.
Luis Tiant was born in Marianao in 1940.
His father was Luis Eleuterio Tiant, who pitched professionally in the old Negro Leagues in the US as well as in Mexico. This is how they remember Tiant’s father at The Society for American Baseball Research:
The elder Tiant was famous for a variety of outstanding pitches (including a screwball, spitball, and knuckleball), a tremendous pickoff move, and an exaggerated pirouette pitching motion. As late as 1947, at the age of 41, Luis put together a 10-0 record for the New York Cubans and pitched in the East-West All-Star Game. Monte Irvin claimed that Luis would have been a “great, great star” had he been able to play in the major leagues
Tiant made his debut in 1964 with Cleveland: 10-4, 9 complete games, 3 shutouts and a 2.83 ERA. He led the AL in 1968 with a 1.60 ERA!
We remember Tiant with Boston and specially the 1975 post-season.
Luis retired with 229 wins, a 3.30 ERA and 189 complete games.
In my opinion, he should be in The Hall of Fame. Let’s hope that he is put in the next time around.