Luis Tiant, the charismatic Cuban who pitched the Red Sox to the brink of a championship, dies at 83

BOSTON (AP) — Luis Tiant, the charismatic Cuban with a horseshoe mustache and mesmerizing windup who pitched the Red Sox to the brink of a World Series championship and pitched himself to the doorstep of the baseball Hall of Fame, has died. He was 83.

Major League Baseball announced his death in a post on X on Tuesday, and the Red Sox confirmed that he died at his home in Maine.

“Today is a very sad day,” Fred Lynn, a teammate in both Boston and California, posted on X. “A Big game pitcher, a funny genuine guy who loved his family and baseball. I miss him already.”

With a swaggering style and an iconic wiggling windup that froze batters in the box, “El Tiante” was a three-time All-Star and four-time 20-game winner whose greatest individual season came with Cleveland in 1968, when he went 21-9 with 19 complete games and nine shutouts — four of them in a row. His 1.60 ERA was the best in the AL in half a century and he finished fifth in AL Most Valuable Player voting; 31-game winner Denny McLain won it, as well as the league's Cy Young Award.

Those performances, along with Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA in the NL, earned 1968 the nickname “Year of the Pitcher” and helped persuade baseball to lower the pitching mound to give batters more of a chance. No matter, Tiant again won the AL ERA title with a 1.91 mark in 1972, for the Red Sox (and lost the Cy Young to Gaylord Perry's 1.92 ERA and 24 wins).

“Luis embodied everything we love about this game: resilience, passion, and an undeniable sense of belonging to something greater than himself,” Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner said. “But what made Luis unforgettable was his vibrant personality. He was a gifted storyteller, always sharing tales filled with humor, honesty, and an enduring loyalty to his teammates. All of us are deeply saddened by his passing. We lost one of the great ones today.”

The son of a Negro Leagues star, the younger Tiant was 229-172 in all with a 3.30 ERA and 2,416 strikeouts. He had 187 complete games and 47 shutouts in a 19-year career spent mostly with Cleveland and the Red Sox.

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

Tiant shut out the Reds in Game 1, threw 155 pitches in another complete game victory in Game 4 and was back on the mound for eight innings in Game 6, which Boston won on Carlton Fisk’s home run in the bottom of the 12th. The '75 Series, which Cincinnati won in seven games, is often cited as the greatest of all time.

It was also a national coming-out party for Tiant's distinctive delivery, in which he would wiggle his hands as he came to the set position, then turn his back to the batter before throwing. The motion would be imitated by generations of children in New England and across the country, but Tiant himself was unmatched.

“Luis had the kind of unforgettable presence that made you feel like you were part of his world,” Red Sox owner John Henry said. “He channeled everything into his love for the game and the people around him. He was magnetic and had a smile that could light up Fenway Park.”

After he retired in 1982, Tiant worked as a minor league coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox and was the pitching coach for Nicaragua at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He remained active with the Red Sox in spring training and was visible around Fenway Park, often signing autographs before the game at the ballpark’s El Tiante Cuban sandwich stand.

Tiant was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame but never made the national shrine in Cooperstown, New York, receiving a high of 30.9% of the votes in 1988, his first year on the ballot. He was also considered and rejected by veterans committees three times.

“Tough day to hear of Luis Tiant passing away. A former player we loved coming into the clubhouse,” former Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis tweeted. “Always joking around with that infectious laugh and saying ‘Man you a sick puppy!’ Forever grateful for the time shared with a legend. May his memory be a blessing!”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

FILE - Former major league baseball player Luis Tiant signs baseballs for firefighters at the Manchester Fire Department in Manchester, N.H., as presidential hopeful, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, right, watches, Monday, May 7, 2007. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter, File)

FILE - Boston Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant is pictured in 1974. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin, File)

FILE - Boston Red Sox great Luis Tiant talks in the picnic area during spring training baseball, Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. (Corey Perrine/Naples Daily News via AP, File)

FILE - Luis Tiant of the Cleveland Indians pitches against the New York Yankees in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium in 1968. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to uphold a Biden administration regulation on ghost guns, the difficult-to-trace weapons found at crime scenes in increasing numbers.

In arguments that ranged to classic cars and Western omelets, key conservative justices seemed open to the government's argument that kits for quickly making nearly untraceable guns at home can be regulated like other firearms.

Two conservative justices, Chief John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, previously joined with the three liberals to allow the rule to go into effect and seemed skeptical of the arguments that the Biden administration overstepped by trying to regulate gun parts.

Justice Samuel Alito compared the components to food, suggesting eggs, peppers and ham aren't necessarily a Western omelet so shouldn't be treated like one. Barrett, though, proposed gun kits are more like meal kits ordered online that contain everything needed to make a specific dinner, like turkey chili.

Roberts, for his part, closely questioned the challengers' position that the kits are mostly popular with hobbyists who enjoy making their own weapons, like auto enthusiasts might rebuild a car on the weekend.

Many ghost gun kits require only the drilling of a few holes and removal of plastic tabs.

“Drilling a hole or two, I would think, doesn't give the same sort of reward that you get from working on your car on the weekend,” Roberts said. “My understanding is that it’s not terribly difficult for someone to do this."

A ruling is expected in the coming months.

The regulation came after the number of ghost guns seized by police around the country soared, going from fewer than 4,000 recovered by law enforcement in 2018 to nearly 20,000 in 2021, according to Justice Department data. The number of ghost guns has since flattened out or declined in several major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Baltimore, according to court documents.

Finalized at the direction of President Joe Biden, the rule requires companies to treat the kits like other firearms by adding serial numbers, running background checks and verifying that buyers are 21 or older.

Challengers to the rule argue that the kits can be challenging to assemble and most people who commit crimes use traditional guns.

“Congress, in the Gun Control Act, did not seek to pursue its purposes of controlling access to firearms to the nth degree,” said attorney Peter Patterson, representing manufacturers, gun rights groups and people who own firearms parts.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas agreed with the challengers and struck down the rule in 2023. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld his decision, and the administration appealed to the Supreme Court, which allowed the rule to go into effect while the litigation played out.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that law-abiding hobbyists can still buy kits under the regulation, which is within the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“Our nation has seen an explosion in crimes committed with ghost guns,” she said. “The evidence shows that these guns were being purchased and used in crime.”

Denise Wieck and her son Guy Boyd, who was shot in the eye with a ghost gun, pose in Ypsilanti, Mich., Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Supreme Court to hear challenge to ghost-gun regulation

Supreme Court to hear challenge to ghost-gun regulation

FILE — Ghost guns are displayed at the headquarters of the San Francisco Police Department, in San Francisco, Nov. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)