2025 Basic Baseball Period Committee Candidate: Luis Tiant

The next article is a part of a collection in regards to the 2025 Basic Baseball Period Committee poll, protecting long-retired gamers, managers, executives, and umpires whose candidacies will likely be voted upon on December 8. For an introduction to the poll, see right here, and for an introduction to JAWS, see right here. A number of profiles on this collection are tailored from work beforehand revealed at SI.com, Baseball Prospectus, and Futility Infielder. All WAR figures confer with the Baseball-Reference model until in any other case indicated.

Even in an period brimming with colourful characters and distinctive hurlers, Luis Tiant stood out. The barrel-chested, mustachioed Cuban righty mixed an assortment of exaggerated deliveries with quite a lot of arm angles and speeds that baffled hitters — and tantalized writers — over the course of a 19-year main league profession (1964–82) and an affiliation with the sport in a single capability or one other that prolonged by the rest of his life. “The Cuban Dervish,” as Sports activities Illustrated’s Ron Fimrite christened him in 1975, died on October 8 on the age of 83. No reason for loss of life was introduced.

The son of a legendary Negro Leagues and Latin American baseball star colloquially often called Luis Tiant Sr. — a thin lefty, in distinction with the burly physique of his right-handed son — the youthful Tiant was exiled from his dwelling nation within the wake of Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro’s journey restrictions, and separated from his household for 14 years. Towards that backdrop of isolation, “El Tiante” went on to turn into the winningest Cuban-born pitcher in main league historical past, and to emerge as a larger-than-life character, so inseparable from his trademark cigars that he chomped them even in postgame showers. On the mound, he was a grasp craftsman whose repertoire of 4 fundamental pitches (fastball, curve, slider, and changeup) mixed with three angles (over-the-top, three-quarters, and sidearm) and 6 totally different speeds for the curve and alter yielded 20 distinct choices in line with catcher Carlton Fisk.

I coated Tiant’s life at size — and I imply size — right here at FanGraphs shortly after he handed. Now that he’s a candidate on the Basic Baseball Period Committee poll, I invite you to (re)learn that profile for the biographical particulars of the person’s fascinating life and profession, which started with Cleveland (1964–69), and included stops with the Twins (1970), Purple Sox (1971–78), Yankees (1979–80), Pirates (1981), and Angels (1982). I’m devoting this area to a extra thorough overview of his case and quest for Cooperstown within the context of this poll, significantly as he’s competing for votes with certainly one of his former teammates and contemporaries, Tommy John.

…

Tiant completed his profession with a group of accolades that in the first place look appears to be like just a little mild for a Corridor of Famer. He gained two ERA titles, posting a 1.60 mark in 1968, the Yr of the Pitcher, and a 1.91 mark in ’72, when after a three-season odyssey of accidents, totally different uniforms, and diminished effectiveness he labored his means from the bullpen to the rotation and have become a Boston folks hero. Whereas he moreover led his league in shutouts thrice, he doesn’t have a lot further black ink in terms of conventional stats. He made simply three All-Star groups and by no means gained a Cy Younger award, topping out with a fourth-place end in 1974, in addition to fifth- and sixth-place finishes. That’s just a little deceptive, nevertheless. In 1968, he accompanied that 1.60 ERA with a 21-9 document in 258 1/3 innings, however that yr Denny McLain turned the primary pitcher in 34 years to prime 30 wins, going 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA in 336 innings. It was solely the yr earlier than that the Cy Younger had been cut up into separate awards for every league, and voters might submit just one title; not till 1970 would they be allowed to submit a prime three. McLain gained unanimously, however it’s fairly potential that Tiant would have completed second if voters had been allowed bigger ballots; within the MVP voting, he tied for fifth with the Orioles’ Dave McNally (22-10, 1.95 ERA in 273 innings), with McLain (who gained each MVP and Cy Younger) the one pitcher above them.

As it’s, Tiant scores a modest 97 on Invoice James’ Corridor of Fame Monitor, which measures how probably (however not how deserving) a participant is to be elected by awarding factors for numerous honors, league leads, postseason efficiency and so forth — the issues that are likely to catch voters’ eyes. A rating of 100 is “an excellent risk,” whereas 130 suggests “a digital cinch.”

Talking of the postseason, Tiant was excellent inside a restricted footprint, going 3-0 with a 2.86 ERA in 34 2/3 innings. The fractional two-thirds of an inning got here in mopup responsibility with the Twins in 1970, the remainder in ’75 with the Purple Sox. He threw a complete-game three-hitter with simply an unearned run allowed within the ALCS opener towards the A’s; a Recreation 1 shutout towards the Reds within the World Sequence; a four-run, 155-pitch full recreation on three days of relaxation in Recreation 4 — a begin that’s the stuff of legends; after which a valiant seven-inning, six-run effort in Recreation 6, when he faltered late however was saved by Carlton Fisk’s well-known Twelfth-inning homer. Had the Purple Sox gained Recreation 7, this “hero of unmatched emotional majesty” (as Peter Gammons referred to as him) may nicely have been the World Sequence MVP.

Whether or not or not Tiant’s fundamental numbers scan as Corridor-worthy relies upon considerably upon the period to which you’re evaluating them. Pitcher wins are an imperfect stat to start with for causes statheads have spent the previous 40-plus years explaining, however traditionally they’ve remained foremost within the minds of Corridor voters, and so I believe the next is at the least considerably instructive. Of the 53 pitchers who’ve collected someplace between 210 and 249 profession wins, simply 15 are within the Corridor, 9 of whom started their main league careers earlier than 1920. None debuted in the course of the 1921–49 stretch; of the opposite six, 4 arrived within the 1950–65 vary, particularly Whitey Ford (236 wins, debuted 1950), Jim Bunning (224 wins, debuted 1955), Juan Marichal (243 wins, debuted 1960), and Catfish Hunter (224 wins, debuted 1965). The opposite two reached the majors over 20 years later, particularly John Smoltz (213 wins, debuted 1988) and Pedro Martinez (219 wins, debuted 1992).

In the meantime, of the 38 pitchers in that 210–249 win vary who aren’t enshrined, 11 debuted previous to 1920, six extra within the 1921–49 interval unrepresented throughout the first group, three within the 1950–65 vary (Mickey Lolich, Jim Perry, and Tiant), 11 within the 1966–87 span, after which eight from ’88 onward, together with three nonetheless energetic or not but eligible (Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, and Max Scherzer). If we put aside the pre-1950 group and those not but eligible, that’s six out of 24 pitchers on this vary who’re within the Corridor versus 18 exterior. Whereas not one of the outsiders gained a Cy Younger, neither did Bunning or Marichal. Run prevention-wise, Hunter is the one Corridor of Famer from this group with a decrease ERA+ (104) than Tiant (114). Even so, Mark Buehrle, Tim Hudson, Kevin Brown, and Curt Schilling are all exterior with an ERA+ within the 117-127 vary.

Seen from this vantage, it shouldn’t be stunning that Tiant didn’t get elected. However when he first turned eligible, on the 1988 BBWAA poll, he had cause for optimism provided that Hunter — statistically essentially the most like Tiant as expressed by his Similarity Rating (one other James creation) — had been elected simply the earlier yr with a comparable win-loss document and ERA (224-166, 3.26 ERA) to Tiant’s marks of 229-172 and three.30. The second-most comparable pitcher to Tiant by that technique, Bunning (224-184, 3.27 ERA), had acquired 70% on that very same poll. Whereas slugger Willie Stargell was the one candidate elected through the 1988 poll, Tiant acquired 30.9%, far quick election however a debut hardly with out promise; in the meantime, Bunning inched as much as 74.2%.

Alas, each pitchers received misplaced within the shuffle on the 1989 poll. Not solely did Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski each debut and achieve straightforward entry with vote shares within the mid-90s, however Gaylord Perry and Fergie Jenkins additionally debuted, each with extra strong résumés than both Tiant or Bunning by way of statistics and honors. Each had been former Cy Younger winners with greater than 3,000 strikeouts, with Perry proudly owning a second Cy Younger and membership within the 300-win membership as nicely. Bunning fell again to 63.3%, whereas Tiant slipped to 10.5%.

First-year candidate Jim Palmer, a three-time Cy Younger winner, jumped the road to realize entry in 1990, as Bunning slid to 57.9% and Tiant to 9.5%. When Jenkins and Perry had been elected in 1991, Bunning aged off the poll (he could be elected by the Veterans Committee in ’96), whereas Tiant sank even additional, to 7.2%. He had missed his window; after Jenkins’ election, it might take till 2011 for one more starter with fewer than 300 wins (Bert Blyleven) to realize entry through the writers. As “That Seventies Group” reshaped expectations for Corridor starters’ credentials, Tiant by no means even climbed again to twenty%, topping out at 18% in 2002, his closing yr on the poll.

Tiant’s candidacy has fared equally amid ever-changing poll codecs since then. In three appearances on the Veterans Committee ballots (2005, ’07, ’09), he maxed out at 25%. He’s now on his fourth look on an Period Committee poll. He was thought-about alongside the likes of future Corridor of Famers Kaat, Ron Santo, Gil Hodges, Minnie Miñoso, and Tony Oliva, plus this poll’s Ken Boyer as a part of the 2012 Golden Period Committee poll, for candidates who made their best affect on the sport in the course of the 1947–72 interval, in addition to the same solid that additionally included this poll’s Dick Allen three years later. In each circumstances, he fell in need of the extent of help wanted to have his precise vote complete introduced; usually, the Corridor lumps collectively all the candidates beneath a sure (various) threshold as “receiving fewer than x” votes to keep away from embarrassing them (or their descendants) with the information of a shutout. When the Corridor reconfigured the Period Committee system in 2016, Tiant wound up categorised throughout the Trendy Baseball Period (1970–87); after ending beneath the edge for vote totals on the 2018 poll, he was bypassed for the ’20 one, a poll that lastly gave Dwight Evans and Lou Whitaker their first pictures.

As you possibly can see from the desk above, Tiant’s Corridor of Fame Monitor rating (HOFM) is the bottom of the group, however he fares higher through superior metrics. He ranked in his league’s prime 10 in WAR eight instances, main in 1968 (8.5) and ending fourth in each ’72 and ’74. Whereas he cracked the highest 10 in ERA simply 4 instances, he did so in ERA+ seven instances (together with the 2 league leads), a reminder that toiling in hitter-friendly Fenway Park might have price him some recognition. Whereas he’s on the decrease facet of That Seventies Group by way of S-JAWS, the adjusted model of my Corridor health metric that tones down the affect of high-volume innings totals from earlier eras, his rating continues to be spectacular. The newer model jumps him from 59th general to tied for forty second with Palmer and Smoltz, two pitchers usually thought-about no-doubt Corridor of Famers; in the meantime, he’s forty fifth in each profession WAR and in adjusted peak. Voters gained’t see one other candidate above these rankings till Kershaw and buddies (a quartet that additionally contains Justin Verlander) turn into eligible.

In introducing S-JAWS, I famous that Tiant is beneath the usual — the imply of all enshrined starters — however principally on the median (53.6). Whereas he doesn’t significantly stand out subsequent to a cohort of 300-game winners, he’s received a lot stronger superior stats than Hunter (who nonetheless had a Cy Younger and 5 championships going for him) and Kaat (a Cy Younger winner however a compiler whose prolonged broadcast profession helped his 2022 Period Committee election). His S-JAWS equals or surpasses another enshrinees whose careers overlapped, resembling Don Drysdale (53.7), Marichal (53.2), Bunning (51.4), Ford (45.5), Sandy Koufax (44.2), and Jack Morris (37.4), however these pitchers all have larger Monitor scores, with Bunning (98) the one different one beneath 100. The enshrined starters he outranks in S-JAWS largely had shorter careers in earlier eras, the place innings totals had been larger and runs much more scarce.

I’ve wavered on Tiant, primarily in mild of older variations of JAWS and in direct comparability to his Period Committee competitors, as a result of even past the numbers his case hasn’t all the time jumped out. On my digital 2018 Trendy Baseball poll, I tabbed Marvin Miller, Alan Trammell, and Ted Simmons, however left my fourth slot empty as a result of I didn’t see any of the opposite seven candidates (Tiant, John, Morris, Steve Garvey, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, and Dave Parker) as sturdy sufficient. Morris was elected, however Tiant is by far the strongest of that group by JAWS if no more conventional reckonings. If I had a do-over, factoring in his cultural significance as one of the vital high-profile Cuban participant success tales, from battling racism within the minors after being reduce off from his household to his mid-career comeback and emergence as a folks hero, I’d take into account him extra strongly — however together with him on that poll would have hinged upon how a lot additional weight to provide John for his personal comeback after the pioneering elbow surgical procedure that bears his title.

I’m nonetheless wrestling with Tiant versus John on this poll. Tiant — who pitched in the identical rotation with John in Cleveland, New York, and Anaheim — is squarely forward on a efficiency foundation, and in a vacuum I believe he’s Corridor-worthy; I’m fairly solidly in favor of any post-integration pitcher with an S-JAWS of fifty or larger. What I’m much less certain of is whether or not Tiant will emerge as certainly one of my prime three on my digital poll, or whether or not Corridor voters’ unlucky historical past of ready till after a candidate’s loss of life to acknowledge them — see Santo, Miñoso, and Allen for simply the most recent in the litany — means that I ought to put apart my gentle resistance to the 81-year-old John and prioritize voting for him whereas he’s nonetheless round to understand the glory. With three extra candidates to judge, I’ve a bit longer to consider it.