BOSTON – Boston Red Sox pitching legend Luis Tiant, whose Major League Baseball career spanned 19 years, has died.
WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche confirmed Tiant’s death on Tuesday. A cause of death was not immediately known.
Who was Luis Tiant?
Tiant, nicknamed “El Tiante”, was 83 years old.
Tiant won 229 games and had a career average of 3.36. The righthander made his Major League debut in 1964 with Cleveland. After pitching for six years with the Indians, he spent one season with Minnesota and then eight years in Boston.
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After his tenure with the Red Sox, Tiant pitched two years with the Yankees, one in Pittsburgh and a final campaign with the Angels.
Former Red Sox outfielder and Baseball Hall of Fame member Fred Lynn responded to Tiant’s death, calling it a “very sad day.”
A native of Cuba, Tiant posted four 20-win seasons and won the American League ERA title twice.
He is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame and Hispanic Heritage Baseball Hall of Fame.
Candidacy for the Luis Tiant Hall of Fame
Although Tiant was on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for 15 years, he was not chosen by the voters. He was later considered on the Ballot paper “Golden Era”. but not selected.
Pitcher Tony Perez, also a native of Cuba, spoke about Tiant’s impact on the region in an article published on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s website.
“When I was a boy growing up in Cuba, Luis Tiant was a national hero,” Perez said.
In 2019, Tiant published a book titled “Son of Havana: A Baseball Journey from Cuba to the Big Leagues and Back.” The book chronicles Tiant’s journey to Major League Baseball, as well as the 15 years he spent separated from his family imprisoned in Cuba.
