LUIS TIANT

By Robert Palazzo

Stats from www.baseball-reference.com

Why doesn't Tiant rhyme with Giant? (After all, on the mound he was!)

Luis Tiant ("El Tiante"); one of the best players to hail from Cuba; definitely one of the most colorful of all players to put on a major league uniform. With his "turn his back to the batter/twist his head/nod his neck and then pitch" delivery, sporting that huge moustache and that ever-present Havana cigar after each game (when I saw him in Cooperstown this summer, he had a pocketful), he was a character wherever he played.

Starting his career with the Cleveland Indians, his first appearance in the major leagues was July 19, 1964. His first start was against the powerful '64 Yankees and he threw a four-hitter against them. His 10-4 record, 2.83 ERA that year laid the groundwork for a career that was worthy of SITT induction. Was it worthy of consideration for HOF induction and should the Veteran's committee correct that oversight?

• 19 years in the major leagues
• Career record of 229-172
• Lifetime ERA of 3.30
• 2416 career strikeouts
• A better than 2 to 1 ratio of K's to BB (2416 to 1104)
• Three years over 200 K's in a season ('67 - 219, '68 - 264, '73 - 206)
• 186 career complete games; with a run of 12, 23, 25, 18 and 19 ('72 - '76).
• Twice league leader in Shut Outs ('68 - 9; '74 - 7)
• Twice league leader in ERA; both below 2.00 ('68 - 1.60; '72 - 1.91)
• During the so-called 'Year of the Pitcher' - 1968, it was he who led the league in ERA and Shut Outs; he also had 19 K's in a 10 inning game on July 3^rd that year.
• Won 20 games 4 times (21 in '68; 20 in '73; 22 in '74 and 21 in '76)
• Between '73 and '76 won 81 games, averaging just over 20 per year.
• Threw two complete game victories for the Red Sox in the '75 World Series. Prior to the opening game he was reunited with his father who had traveled from Cuba. All he did after that was just go out and pitch a 5 hit shut out!!
• Became a footnote in modern baseball history and an answer to the much harder trivia question - 'Who PITCHED to the first DH in history, and what were the results?'
• He was a WORKHORSE: he pitched a total of 3486 innings, with six years of 250 innings or greater, including a high of 311 in '74.

Luis really only had three poor years. In 1969 he was 9-20 for the Indians and was uncharacteristically wild, giving up 129 Bases on Balls to only 156 K's. But his ERA was a respectable 3.71. In 1971 he got into 21 games for the Red Sox, posting a 1-7 record, with a 4.88 ERA. And in 1980 he posted an 8-9 record with a 4.89 ERA for the Yankees.

Cooperstown? Maybe. But I don't like his chances. His 229 victories are impressive but his 172 losses hurt his chances. And to be totally candid, his lifetime ERA of 3.30 is respectable but is a bit deceiving. When it was low, it was very low (2.83, 2.79, 2.73, 1.60, 1.91, 2.92). But when it was high, it was very high (3.71, 4.88, 4.02, 4.52, 3.90, 4.89). I am one who lists consistency as a HOF qualification and Luis wasn't a model of consistency.

But he was a power on the mound and put up big numbers. He was certainly one of the dominant pitchers of his era. And he is another of the many players caught up in that mysterious Yankee/Red Sox rivalry as they picked him up as a free agent from the Red Sox in 1979 after he had claimed them as victims in his first ML start 15 years earlier.

BTW, the batter was Ron Bloomberg of the Yanks and he walked.