Luis Tiant, Crowd-Pleasing Pitcher Who Baffled Hitters, Dies at 83

Baseball|Luis Tiant, Crowd-Pleasing Pitcher Who Baffled Hitters, Dies astatine 83

Luis Tiant, a Cuban-born right-hander who was 1 of baseball’s astir entertaining and charismatic pitchers, and whose individual communicative was among nan game’s astir poignant, died connected Tuesday. He was 83.

His decease was announced by nan Boston Red Sox, for whom he sounded successful nan 1970s. The squad did not opportunity wherever he died aliases mention nan cause.

El Tiante, arsenic he was known connected nan sports pages — aliases Loo-ee! arsenic stadiums afloat of fans would often chant while he was connected nan mound — won 229 games complete 19 big-league seasons, playing for teams successful six cities, notably Cleveland and Boston, wherever he led nan Red Sox to a World Series and became 1 of nan astir beloved players successful nan team’s storied history.

In a profession that necessitated a agelong separation from his family and from Cuba, his homeland, and that was bifurcated by a superior enarthrosis injury, Tiant won 20 aliases much games 4 times and threw 187 complete games (more than Don Sutton, Don Drysdale, Lefty Gomez aliases Dizzy Dean) and 49 shutouts (more than Roger Clemens, Whitey Ford, Catfish Hunter, Sandy Koufax aliases Bob Feller).