Luis Tiant Quotes

Luis Tiant Quotes

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present an unprecedented collection of baseball related quotations spoken by Luis Tiant and about Luis Tiant.

"It was fun playing behind him (Luis Tiant). He'd get on the rubber and throw in a hurry. Everybody was on their toes because he was always around the plate. He had bulldog competitiveness." - Third Baseman Max Alvis

Quotes From Luis Tiant

"Family is everything. It is even more important than baseball."

"I didn't do it (pitch like he did) for show. I did it to get batters out. Players would tell me, 'We can't tell where the ball is coming from.'"

"If we lose today, it will be over my dead body. They'll have to leave me face down on the mound."

"I give him (Frank Howard during April 28, 1968 two-hitter) shoulder, back, foot and the ball last," and Frank Howard commented, "He threw everything at me but the ball." - in The Cleveland Press

"I had dreamed about being a college coach for a long time, but with no education, I never thought I would get a chance."

"Normal relations, never. We should never forget what has happened to the people in Cuba for forty years. All baseball cares about is getting players out of Cuba. It doesn't care about the suffering, just money. The Orioles shouldn't have gone to Cuba. This is a free county, but that's the way I feel."

"The fastball is the best pitch in baseball. It's like having five pitches, if you move it around."

"You (Gorman Thomas) scare people. You could be anything in the jungle, but the hunter." Source: The McFarland Baseball Quotations Dictionary (David H. Nathan, 2000)

"When I'm in Boston, I always feel like I'm home. I almost cry, I feel so good."

Quotes About Luis Tiant

"His father was a better pitcher than he was, but never pitched in the major leagues because of the color of his skin. Despite the shadow of his father, Luis Tiant managed to win more than 200 games and delight fans with his collection of pitching deliveries. He was an eccentric, cigar-smoking crowd pleaser for nearly two decades." - thebaseballpage.com

"If a man put a gun to my head and said I'm going to pull the trigger if you lose this game, I'd want Luis Tiant to pitch that game." - Boston Red Sox Manager Darrell Johnson

"It brings back good memories having Tiant around. He's a very good coach and a good friend. Also, a very good coach which you can enjoy spending time with him. It's always nice to have someone like Tiant around." - Pedro Martinez

"It looks like Tiant has added another pitch. Now he has about fifty!" - Thurman Munson in Dick Young's Clubhouse Confidential column in the NY Daily News (Sunday, June 22, 1975)

"I've never heard anything like that ("Loo-Eee, Loo-Eee, Loo-Eee" chanting in Fenway Park) in my life. But I'll tell you one thing: Tiant deserved every bit of it." - Carl Yastrzemski

"Luis and I would each be fighting for thity wins if he had our (Detroit Tigers) kind of hitting to go with his kind of pitching" - Denny McLain during the 1968 All-Star Game

"Tiant didn't join the Red Sox until mid-career, but he became one of the most popular players in club history. A balding, overweight starter whose age was often estimated at several years higher that its 'official' listing, Tiant spoke with a thick Cuban accent and would smoke cigars anywhere, including the clubhouse whirlpool and shower. He was a renowned locker-room prankster, but was serious on the mound, winning 20 games three times for Boston. He baffled hitters with a rocking, twisting windup and an assortment of release points that ranged from over-the-top to nearly underhand." - Steve Holtje in baseballibrary.com

"Tiant had a backup curveball. It never broke. His changeup was so-so, but he had pinpoint control and could bring it about ninety-five miles an hour. And he had a hell of a move to first base. He liked to talk to the hitters. He'd say, 'Hit it baby.'"- Catcher Joe Azcue

"Tiant is the Fred Astaire of baseball."- Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in Five Seasons (Roger Angell)

"When I was a boy growing up in Cuba, Luis Tiant was a national hero. Now I'm 36 and he's 37." - Tony Perez in The McFarland Baseball Quotations Dictionary (David H. Nathan, 2000)

"Unless you've played with him, you can't understand what Luis means to a team." - Teammate Dwight Evans

Quotes From & About Luis Tiant

Luis Tiant made his Major League debut with the Cleveland Indians on July 19, 1964, beating the New York Yankees. His father had starred in the Negro Leagues during the 1930's and 40's, winning the Negro League World Series with the New York Cubans in 1947.

Famed author / sportswriter Roger Angell wrote about Luis Tiant in Five Seasons (page 293) and described in detail his unique style of pitching. One serious fan of Tiant's wrote, 'if you have ever seen Tiant pitch, you will see that this is an EXACT description of his work:"

1) Call the Osteopath: In midpitch the man suffers an agonizing seizure in the central cervical region, which he attempts to fight off with a sharp backward twist of the head.

2) Out of the Woodshed: Just before releasing the ball he steps over a raised sill and simultaneously ducks his head to avoid conking it on the low doorframe.

3) The Runaway Taxi: Before the pivot, he sees a vehicle bearing down on him at top speed, and pulls back his entire upper body just in time to avoid a nasty accident.

4) Falling Off the Fence:A n attack of vertigo nearly causes him to topple over backward on the mound. Strongly suggests a careless dude on the top rung of the corral.

5) The Slipper-Kick: In the midpitch, he surprisingly decides to get rid of his left shoe.

6) The Low-Flying Plane(a subtle development and amalgam of 1, 3, and 4 above): While he is pivoting, an F-I05 buzzes the ball park, passing over the infield from the third-base to the first-base side at a height of eight feet. He follows it all the way with his eyes.

After leaving the mound, Luis Tiant was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997.After serving as a minor league pitching coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers and minor league instructor for the Chicago White Sox, he was named the coach of Savannah College of Art and Design's baseball team in 1998. He rejoined the Boston Red Sox organization when he was named pitching coach of the Single-A Lowell Spinners in 2002.

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