Page 93 - 1975 BoSox

LUIS CLEMENTE TIANT Y VEGA, a charismatic right-handed pitcher whom Reggie Jackson called “the Fred
Astaire of baseball,” won 229 games over parts of 19 seasons in the major leagues.1 His midcareer come- back, dramatic family reunion, and World Series heroics inspired a region, likely leaving him one of the most beloved men ever to play for the Boston Red Sox.
Tiant was born in Marianao, Cuba, the son of Luis and Isabel. His father, Luis Eleuterio Tiant, was a legendary left-handed pitcher who starred in the Cuban Leagues and the American Negro Leagues for 20 years. e elder Tiant was famous for a variety of outstanding pitches (including a screwball, spitball, and knuckleball), a tremendous picko 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.2
e younger Tiant was an only child, and grew up in a baseball-mad country. He was a star on various local youth teams, and as a 16-year-old played on an all-star club that traveled to Mexico City for an international tournament. His father did not encourage him to make a career of the game, believing there was little chance of a black man being successful in baseball, but his mother was more supportive and
carried the day.
After failing a tryout with the Havana team of the International League, Luis started his professional career in 1959, at age 18, with the Mexico City Tigers. His rst year was quite poor (5-19, 5.92 ERA), but he followed this up with 17 wins in 1960 and 12 more the next year, after being
delayed for two months trying to leave his homeland. At the end of the 1961 season, the Cleveland Indians purchased his contract for $35,000.
During these three seasons, Luis spent his summers living in Mexico City, and then returning to Havana for the o season to play winter ball and be with his family. In 1961 he met Maria del Refugio Navarro, a native of Mexico City, at a ballpark — she was playing for her o ce softball team. After a short courtship, Luis and Maria married in August 1961. At the close of the season they were planning to return to Luis’s home in Marianao. But the political embarrassment and potential economic hardship of massive Cuban emigration led Fidel Castro’s government to ban all outside travel. Accordingly, upon the advice of his father, Luis did not return home to Cuba in 1961, not knowing when or if he would see his parents again.
Now the property of the Indians, Luis pitched for Charleston in the Eastern League in 1962 and had a respectable year (7-8, 3.63) considering that he was living in an English-speaking country for the rst time. In 1963, for Burlington, he was likely the best pitcher in the Carolina League, nishing 14-9, includ- ing a no-hitter, with a 2.56 ERA, leading the league in complete games, strikeouts, and shutouts. He was 22 years old, and presumably one of the prizes of the Cleveland farm system.
e following winter Tiant was left o the Indians’ 40-man roster, but no team risked the $12,000 it would have taken to claim him. Despite a good spring in 1964, the Indians rst sent him back to Burlington, but an injury to a pitcher on their Triple-A Portland team in the Paci c Coast League brought Tiant to Oregon for the 1964 season. e Portland Beavers sta also included Sam McDowell, one of the more renowned young phenoms in baseball.
Luis Tiant
by Mark Armour
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