Elliott: Remembering Luis Tiant
The late Boston Red Sox legend RHP Luis Tiant could pitch … and he could tell a story.
October 9, 2024
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
One early afternoon in late July, we sat in a corner of the cramped visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park.
We were waiting for the Blue Jays to make a pre-deadline deal, away back in 2014.
It was a major-league conversation ... something to pass the time. Four people talking about nothing, waiting for something, anything.
Let’s see there was bench coach DeMarlo Hale, third base coach Luis Rivera, bullpen coach Bob Stanley and myself.
Someone asked Stanley what his former Red Sox teammate Luis Tiant was like?
“You know what he would do when he gave up a tape-measure shot to centre field ... I mean a real bomb?” Stanley asked.
We saw Tiant pitch a few times but we don’t remember any moon shots to centre.
“No, what did he do? What did he do?”
Stanley lived the big-league life for 13 years in the Red Sox bullpen. He could spin the ball. And he could spin a story.
“Well,” said Stanley, “I’ll show you.”
Stanley turned his back to the three of us, pretended to throw a pitch doing the Tiant wind-up, complete with turn. Then he wheeled around as if facing centre looked up, looked away up and then screamed:
“Go foul, GO FOUL ... GO FOUL!!!”
Wait a second the ball was hit to centre field and he’d yell “go foul.”
“Go foul, GO FOUL ... GO FOUL!!!”
Everyone laughed.
Not less than 10 minutes later in walked Tiant. Introductions were made. Stanley whispered, “Go ahead ask him?”
“Luis,” I asked, “what did you do if a guy was ever lucky enough to hit one deep to centre off you.”
Tiant turned his back away from us, wheeled around, craned his neck and let out a blood-curling scream as he crouched and squinted:
“Go foul, GO FOUL ... GO FOUL ... GOOOOOO FOUL!!!”
In 38 seasons of visiting clubhouses, we’ve had seen tears, anger, but mostly some good laughs. This Tiant tale was top 10 material when Stanley shared it and top three when Tiant slid by and re-enacted it.
Tiant pitched parts of 18 seasons in the majors, including eight with the Red Sox. He also wore uniforms of the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, California Angels and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He pitched in 573 games -- making 484 starts -- with a 229-172 record and a 3.30 ERA in 3,486 1/3 innings. Tiant has had Hall of Fame backers. He was on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot for 15 years, peaking at 30.9% in 1988. His career was also evaluated by six different veteran committees without his election.
A member of the Fenway faithful may have thought of one of Tiant’s 122 Red Sox wins, or one of his 113 complete games or maybe one of his 26 shutouts when news broke of Tiant’s death at 83, this week.
Me? First thing I thought of was how Tiant had one corner of a locker room rolling and rollicking with laughter.
The Blue Jays swept that three-game series at Boston with R.A. Dickey, Marcus Stroman and Mark Buehrle getting the wins. The Jays added Danny Valencia for the stretch run while in Boston.
And Toronto won the next night -- July 31 -- when Nolan Reimold hit one of his two homers (in 22 games with the Jays) in the top of the ninth to beat the Houston Astros 6-5 at Minute Maid. That fourth straight win moved the Jays to within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Baltimore Orioles with a 60-50 record in the American League East.
Jose Bautista and Casey Janssen grumbled about the lack of trades.
Then, it emerged that both Edward Rogers, of Rogers Corporation and Jays president Paul Beeston, had told the players at their annual end-of-spring diner at the Bon Appétit Restaurant ... “If we’re close at the deadline, we’ll make additions.”
Well, 1 1/2 out of first was close. And Valencia was not the answer.
The Jays went 23-29 the final two months to finish 83-79, 13 games behind the Orioles, five games out of a wild-card spot.
Tiant gave up 343 homers … Stanley returned and whispered, “Ask how many did he give up to centre?”
I passed on that one.