Page 95 - 1975 BoSox

88 ’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL
rest. He sat down for just 10 weeks, and returned to lose three of four decisions in the nal weeks of the 1970 season.
By spring training of 1971, Tiant claimed to be fully recovered, but soon pulled a muscle in his rib cage, missed two weeks, and was otherwise ine ective in only eight innings. On March 31 the Twins gave him his unconditional release. Calvin Gri th believed that Tiant was nished at age 30. Suitably devastated, Luis believed the move was intended only to save money.
e sole team willing to give Tiant a shot was the Atlanta Braves, who signed him to a 30-day trial with their Triple-A Richmond team. After limited work, the Braves were unwilling to promote him at the end of the trial period, so he signed with Louisville, the Red Sox’Triple-A a liate. He pitched very well in 31 innings for Louisville — 29 strikeouts and a 2.61 ERA — and was summoned to Boston on June 3.
He was not an immediate success with the Red Sox. After his rst appearance, on June 11, resulted in ve runs in only one inning, Clif Keane wrote in the Boston Globe: “ e latest investment by the Red Sox looked about as sound as taking a bagful of money and throw- ing it o Pier 4 into the Atlantic.”5 Tiant remained in the rotation, but he dropped his rst six decisions as a starter. After one loss, Keane led a game story with, “Enough is enough.”6
Nonetheless, manager Eddie Kasko believed there were signs that Tiant could become a quality pitcher again. He threw seven very good innings against the Yankees but lost 2-1 on a two-run home run by Roy White. He threw 10 shutout innings, and 154 pitches, against the Twins, but did not gure in the decision. Kasko nally took him out of the rotation in early August. He was better in the bullpen, nishing 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA in that role. After his four-month audition, many in the media were surprised that Tiant was still on the 40-man roster in the spring.
On March 22, 1972, the Red Sox traded Sparky Lyle to the Yankees for Danny Cater and Mario Guerrero, a trade that ranks among the worst that the Red Sox
ever made, but which likely saved Luis’s spot on the team. Kasko elected to keep him for the team’s bullpen. By the end of July, Kasko’s faith seemed to have been justi ed, as Luis was e ective in a variety of roles — the occasional spot start, a ninth-inning save or a long- relief stint. e team had oundered for the rst half of the season, but a July hot streak had pulled them to within ve games of rst place on August 4.
On August 5 at Fenway Park, Tiant started for just the seventh time and beat the Orioles. One week later, in Baltimore, he beat the O’s again, pitching six no-hit innings before settling for a three-hitter. After a relief appearance, he pitched a two-hitter in Chicago’s Comiskey Park on August 19, losing a no-hitter with two outs in the seventh. After this game Kasko nally announced that Luis was in the rotation to stay.
Surprisingly, the Red Sox had climbed into a erce four-team pennant race with the Yankees, Orioles, and Tigers. Even more surprisingly, Luis Tiant had become their best player. Over a period of 10 starts, beginning with the game in Chicago, Luis furnished a record of 9-1 with six shutouts and a 0.82 ERA, all nine victories being complete games. He began with four straight shutouts, his streak of 40 scoreless innings ending during a four-hit victory over the Yankees at Fenway Park on September 8. After a loss in Yankee Stadium, Luis blanked the Indians back home on the 16th.
Before the second game of a twi-night doubleheader against the Orioles on September 20, the fans rose to their feet as Luis walked to the bullpen to warm up and gave him such an ovation that his teammates joined in. e crowd spent most of the evening chant- ing “Loo-Eee, Loo-Eee, Loo-Eee,” as their hero re- corded out after out. When he came up to bat in the bottom on the eighth on his way to another shutout, the crowd again rose to give him an ovation that continued throughout his at-bat, the break between innings, and the entire top of the ninth. Larry Cla in, the veteran Boston Herald sportswriter, wrote that he had never heard a sound like it at a game, unless it was “the last time Joe DiMaggio went to bat in Boston.”7 Carl Yastrzemski, who had had one of base-