BOSTON — As the Red Sox honored their pennant-winning 1975 team ahead of Friday’s home opener, a major piece was missing.
Long a fixture at Fenway Park, Luis Tiant passed away at 83 years old last October. The Cuban right hander who won 229 games will be honored this season with an “El Tiante” heart on the Green Monster and his family members shouted “play ball!” Dwight Evans said the pregame ceremony was “beautiful” from field level.
“I miss Luis. We all do. But I try to take something from everybody that I’m around and live around,” Evans said. “With him, just his love for people… he loved people, he did, and I take that away from him for myself.”
Before the first pitch, Tiant was on the mind of the Red Sox manager as well.
“Luis is a guy that we miss,” Alex Cora said. “Spring training was kind of empty in that aspect. He was always talking to the guys, teaching the guys how it used to be and what it means to be a Red Sox. We miss him. I actually miss him here — the most is here (at Fenway Park) — because he was always joking around with (the players). When they were down a little bit, he would go down there (to the clubhouse) and talk (expletive) to them in a very unique way.
“Always with a smile,” Cora said. “He was a proud individual.”
The Red Sox held a press conference for Garrett Crochet’s new contract extension on Friday morning, and team president Sam Kennedy joked that they wouldn’t mind if the pitcher threw “187 complete games” like Tiant.
“Luis was a Hall of Famer as a pitcher, at least that’s our hope and dream and desire. Everybody knows the talent. Everybody knows the story,” Kennedy said.
“He’d be in the (owner’s) suite just about every night and he was such an incredible person,” Kennedy added. “He loves this franchise, loved the team, and we’re just so grateful for what he meant to so many of us. He sort of set the standard for what it meant to put that uniform on. He appreciated it each and every day and we appreciated having him around for all those years.”
Tiant is in the Red Sox Hall of Fame, but hasn’t been enshrined in Cooperstown. Over the course of a 19-year-career, the three-time All Star went 229–172 with a 3.30 ERA and 2,416 strikeouts. His former teammates marveled at his ability to adapt over the course of a game.
“He was special in a way that — I’m on the bench in spring training and I hear that he throws 96, 97 (mph) but he loses it around the fifth and sixth inning,” Evans said. “Well, Luis threw hard, but what Luis would do in the sixth or seventh or eighth inning is, he changed speeds and changed locations. He pitched. He didn’t have the stuff he started the game with, but he pitched. He knew how to pitch… there’s very few that could do what Luis did.”
Added fellow outfielder Fred Lynn, “That’s called finishing a game, ladies and gentlemen.”
