Luis Tiant was the first Cuban baseball player I knew of when I was a kid growing up in the late 60s and early 1970s outside of Boston. I remember trying to find Cuba on a globe at school, and having a lot of difficulty finding it. He was charismatic and everybody loved Louieeeee! Every kid playing Little League or backyard wiffle ball was trying to imitate the Tiant delivery, and many lost their balance and fell down in that effort. Knees and hips are not supposed to bend that way, but Tiant pulled it off.
https://www.mlb.com/video/reme...ox-legend-luis-tiant
In looking at his stats you realize quickly that baseball was a different game 50 years ago. Tiant compiled a 229–172 record with 2416 strikeouts, a 3.30 earned run average (ERA), 187 complete games, and 49 shutouts in 3486+1⁄3 innings. Let me repeat that....187 complete games! He was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997.
RIP El Tiante
