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
Gained a great deal of fame from the 1975 World Series. Had all the hesitation moves from the stretch. Would wind up and turn towards second base, hesitate and then throw.
Singled and scored the first run of the series. After winning game 1 he was in the locker room smoking this giant cigar. What an image that was. [Reply]
When Luis Tiant faced “Disco” Dan Ford, noted for his extremely closed batting stance, for a split second both pitcher and hitter had their backs turned to each other. [Reply]
Not a Luis Tiant post, but from the same time frame a pretty cool Mike Torez moment/story (at least for me):
Later 1970's. Probably 1977 or so, give or take a year or two. Monday night in the late fall. I'm in the local pub in Courtland, Kansas. One of my best friends and I were sitting at the bar drinking a beer or two watching Monday Night Football. Mike Torrez and the local banker were shooting pool at a table a few feet away. We were the only 4 in the bar besides the bartender. Torrez was in town hunting pheasants with the banker. Howard Cosell was on TV breaking the story of Torrez signing huge new contract with the Red Sox. I think this is when he went from the Yankees to the Red Sox. Torrez came up to the bar to listen to the story from Cosell. Cosell said they had been trying to contact Torrez to confirm the story, but were unable to track him down to contact him. All this time, he was standing right next to me at the only bar in Courtland, Kansas. We all laughed and high fived, and he set us up with a fresh cold beer!