Boston Red Sox | Former pitcher Luis Tiant dies

(Boston) Luis Tiant, the charismatic Cuban with the horseshoe mustache and the fascinating drive who came so close to leading the Boston Red Sox to the World Series and to the Hall of Fame , died at the age of 83.

Major League Baseball announced his death on Tuesday. The Red Sox later confirmed that he died at his residence in Maine.

“It’s a sad day,” said Fred Lynn, his teammate in Boston and with the California Angels, on the social network X. “A pitcher made for special occasions. A funny guy, who loved his family and baseball. I’m already bored. »

Nicknamed “El Tiante,” Tiant appeared in the All-Star Game three times. He had his best season in 1968, when he compiled a 21-9 record with 19 complete games and nine shutouts, including four in a row. But it was her earned run average of 1.60, the best of the American in 50 years, in addition to that of 1.12 of Bob Gibson in the National, which convinced the MLB to lower the mound in order to to give hitters a better chance of success.

The son of a Negro Leagues star, Tiant finished his 19-season career, most of it with the Cleveland Indians and Red Sox, with a 229-172 record and a 3.30 ERA. He struck out 2,416 batters and pitched 187 complete games, including 47 shutouts.

His death comes a week after that of all-time hits leader Pete Rose, whose Cincinnati Reds faced Tiant’s Red Sox in the 1975 World Series, still considered the greatest in history.

Tiant won Game 1, blanking the “Big Red Machine,” before throwing 155 shots in nine innings of work to score a second victory in Game 4. He was back for eight innings of work in Game No. 6, won by the Red Sox in 12^e on the dramatic Carlton Fisk circuit.

Upon retirement, Tiant was elected to the Red Sox Hall of Fame, but never received the votes needed to make it to Cooperstown, receiving only 30.9 percent of the vote in 1988, his first year on the ballot papers.