Baseball, MLB

Luis Tiant, “El Tiante” and Magical Cuban Passes Away

LOS ANGELES, CA — The world has lost one of the most colorful and skillful baseball pitchers ever. Luis Tiant, Marianao, Havana, Cuba, “El Tiante,” passed away at 83 at his home in Maine. His original acrobatic wind-up and delivery were like nothing you had ever seen before. Famously known for sometimes changing his delivery on every pitch to a batter. He was magical, and over his 19 years in the big leagues, he wowed fans with his creative mound presence and his numbers.

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Luis Tiant. In a Major League career that spanned 19 seasons, "El Tiante" made three All-Star teams and won 20 or more games four times. Tiant won two ERA titles in the American League – one in 1968 for Cleveland, and another in… pic.twitter.com/wVNQj9f1pc

— MLB (@MLB) October 8, 2024

He had a record of 229-172, an ERA of 3.30 lifetime, 2416 strikeouts, 3486.2 innings pitched, 187 complete games, and 49 shutouts. In the 1975 World Series against the “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds, he shut out the Reds in Game 1, then pitched a complete Game 4 where he threw 155 pitches. He would then pitch eight innings in that classic Game 6 Carlton Fisk walk-off.

Tiant is a member of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Hall of Fame but is not in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He, like many others, deserves to be enshrined there. “El Tiante” once said, “I think I deserve to be in Cooperstown, but I have something to say to those who elect me. If you don’t take me in life, don’t try to elect me after I die, please.”

In one week, we have lost two baseball men who thrilled us on the diamond many times. Pete Rose, who played in that 1975 classic against Tiant, is waiting to welcome him into that Hall of Fame in heaven.