Page 98 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 91
6-3 before Bernie Carbo and Carlton Fisk bailed him out with legendary home runs. Alas, the Red Sox lost the seventh game to the Reds the next evening.
e 1975 postseason marked the zenith of Tiant’s career, as his family story, his charm and charisma, his unique pitching style, and, nally, his talent made him a national star. At age 34, he was said to have thrown six pitches (fastball, curve, slider, slow curve, palm ball, and knuckleball) — from three di erent release points (over the top, three-quarters, and side-arm). His windup and motion seemed to vary on a whim. Roger Angell, writing in e New Yorker, once tried to put a name to each of his motions, including “Call the Osteopath,” “Out of the Woodshed,” and “ e Runaway Taxi.”18 It was said that over the course of the game Luis’s deliveries allowed him to look each patron in the eye at least once.
With all of his loved ones nearby,Tiant won 21 games for a struggling Red Sox team in 1976. His parents never returned to Havana. ey stayed with Luis for 15 months, until his father died of a long illness in December 1976. Two days later, while resting for the next day’s memorial service, Luis’ mother, Isabel, died in her chair, although she had not been ill. e two were buried together near Luis’s home in Milton, Massachusetts.
After watching several of his teammates reap the rewards of the new free-agency era, Luis had a pro- tracted holdout in the spring of 1977. He came to terms, but managed only 12 and 13 wins the next two years.Tiant’s relationship with the team’s management was strained from this point forward.
After their stunning slump late in the 1978 season, the Red Sox had crawled back to within two games of the Yankees with eight remaining. Prior to the sub- sequent contest in Toronto, Luis said, “If we lose today, it will be over my dead body. ey’ll have to leave me face down on the mound.”19 He won, and the Red Sox went on to win their last eight games, including two more victories from Tiant on three days’ rest. On the nal day of the season, the Red Sox needed a win and a Yankee loss to force a playo game. Cat sh
Hunter and the Yankees lost in Cleveland and Tiant dazzled the Fenway crowd yet again with a two-hitter against the Blue Jays.
In the o season, the Red Sox o ered the 38-year-old Tiant only a one-year contract, allowing Luis to sign with the New York Yankees for two years, plus a 10-year deal as a scout. Dwight Evans was devastated at man- agement’s ignorance of what Luis meant to the team. Carl Yastrzemski says he cried when he heard the news: “ ey tore out our heart and soul.”20 Heart and soul aside,Tiant’s September-October record for the Red Sox was 31-12. e Red Sox would not be in another pennant race for several years.
Luis won 13 games in 1979, including a 3-2 victory over the Red Sox in September, before falling to 8-9 in 1980. After the season, the Yankees let him go. He signed with Pittsburgh in 1981, but spent most of the season with his old team in Portland. He excelled again for the Beavers — 13-7, 3.82, including a no- hitter—but struggled with the Pirates and was re- leased at the end of the season. He nished up his major-league career with six games for the 1982 Angels, with his nal win coming against the Red Sox on August 17.
Tiant spent several years scouting for the Yankees in Mexico, always dreaming of a job with a major-league team. He coached in the minor leagues for the Dodgers and White Sox in the 1990s before becoming head baseball coach for the Savannah (Georgia) College of Art and Design. He held the job for four years. For several years in the new century, Tiant worked as a minor-league pitching coach and Spanish language broadcaster for the Red Sox. In 1997 he was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame, and he remains a presence around the club.
In 2007 Tiant returned to Cuba to visit friends and family, a story told in the documentary lm e Lost Son of Havana, which premiered in 2009.
Luis and Maria have raised three children: Luis Jr. (born in 1961), Isabel (1968), and Daniel (1974).