Longtime Red Sox great Luis Tiant dies at 83

Luis Tiant, a longtime Red Sox great who starred for the club throughout the 1970s, has died at age 83.

The Herald confirmed his passing Tuesday morning. As of this writing no cause of death has been reported.

Today is a very sad day. My friend and teammate , Luis Tiant, passed away. A Big game pitcher, a funny genuine guy who loved his family and baseball. I miss him already….RIP my friend. pic.twitter.com/9jFODk2Che

— Fred Lynn (@19fredlynn) October 8, 2024

A native of Cuba, Tiant pitched 19 seasons in the majors between 1964-82, including eight seasons with the Red Sox from 1971-78. A three-time All-Star and two-time ERA champion, Tiant went 229-172 with a 3.30 ERA and 187 complete games in his career.

His best years came in Boston, when he went 122-81 while posting three top-6 Cy Young finishes in 1972, 1974 and 1976. “El Tiante” was a fixture of the Red Sox starting rotation during one of the most successful eras in club history, and in 1975 he helped lead Boston to within one win of its first World Series championship since 1918, making four starts during the postseason while going 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA in 34 innings.

That included complete game victories in Games 1 and 4 of the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, and he pitched into the eighth inning of Boston’s eventual Game 6 win as well.

Though he wasn’t enshrined in Cooperstown — he never earned more than 30.9% of the vote in 15 years on the ballot — Tiant put together a Hall of Fame-caliber resume and was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997. He has remained a regular presence around the Red Sox since his retirement and could regularly be found around JetBlue Park during spring training.

He was also a frequent guest in the club’s Legends Suite at Fenway Park, including as recently as the final home series of the season barely two weeks ago.

This is a breaking news story. Check back later for further updates.

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