2025 Classic Baseball Era Committee Candidate: Luis Tiant

The next article is a part of a sequence regarding the 2025 Traditional Baseball Period Committee poll, overlaying 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 sequence are tailored from work beforehand revealed at SI.com, Baseball Prospectus, and Futility Infielder. All WAR figures discuss 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 way of 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 dying 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 residence 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 out to be 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 completely 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 Traditional 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), Crimson Sox (1971–78), Yankees (1979–80), Pirates (1981), and Angels (1982). I’m devoting this area to a extra thorough assessment of his case and quest for Cooperstown within the context of this poll, significantly as he’s competing for votes with one in all his former teammates and contemporaries, Tommy John.

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Tiant completed his profession with a group of accolades that in the first place look appears a little bit gentle for a Corridor of Famer. He received 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, completely different uniforms, and diminished effectiveness he labored his approach from the bullpen to the rotation and have become a Boston folks hero. Whereas he moreover led his league in shutouts 3 times, he doesn’t have a lot further black ink on the subject of conventional stats. He made simply three All-Star groups and by no means received a Cy Younger award, topping out with a fourth-place end in 1974, in addition to fifth- and sixth-place finishes. That’s a little bit deceptive, nevertheless. In 1968, he accompanied that 1.60 ERA with a 21-9 report in 258 1/3 innings, however that 12 months Denny McLain grew to become 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 12 months earlier than that the Cy Younger had been break up into separate awards for every league, and voters might submit just one identify; not till 1970 would they be allowed to submit a prime three. McLain received unanimously, nevertheless 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 received 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 varied honors, league leads, postseason efficiency and so forth — the issues that are inclined to catch voters’ eyes. A rating of 100 is “ risk,” whereas 130 suggests “a digital cinch.”

Talking of the postseason, Tiant was superb 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 obligation with the Twins in 1970, the remainder in ’75 with the Crimson Sox. He threw a complete-game three-hitter with simply an unearned run allowed within the ALCS opener towards the A’s; a Sport 1 shutout towards the Reds within the World Collection; a four-run, 155-pitch full sport on three days of relaxation in Sport 4 — a begin that’s the stuff of legends; after which a valiant seven-inning, six-run effort in Sport 6, when he faltered late however was saved by Carlton Fisk’s well-known Twelfth-inning homer. Had the Crimson Sox received Sport 7, this “hero of unmatched emotional majesty” (as Peter Gammons referred to as him) may properly have been the World Collection 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 no less than 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 through 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 twenty 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 inside 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 lively 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 outdoors. Whereas not one of the outsiders received 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 outdoors with an ERA+ within the 117-127 vary.

Seen from this vantage, it shouldn’t be shocking that Tiant didn’t get elected. However when he first grew to become eligible, on the 1988 BBWAA poll, he had motive for optimism on condition that Hunter — statistically probably the most like Tiant as expressed by his Similarity Rating (one other James creation) — had been elected simply the earlier 12 months with a comparable win-loss report and ERA (224-166, 3.26 ERA) to Tiant’s marks of 229-172 and three.30. The second-most related pitcher to Tiant by that methodology, Bunning (224-184, 3.27 ERA), had acquired 70% on that very same poll. Whereas slugger Willie Stargell was the one candidate elected by way of 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 acquired misplaced within the shuffle on the 1989 poll. Not solely did Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski each debut and acquire 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 properly. 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 achieve 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 will take till 2011 for one more starter with fewer than 300 wins (Bert Blyleven) to achieve entry by way of 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 last 12 months 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 impression on the sport through the 1947–72 interval, in addition to an analogous forged that additionally included this poll’s Dick Allen three years later. In each instances, he fell in need of the extent of assist wanted to have his precise vote complete introduced; typically, the Corridor lumps collectively all the candidates under 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 labeled inside the Fashionable Baseball Period (1970–87); after ending under the brink 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’ll be able to see from the desk above, Tiant’s Corridor of Fame Monitor rating (HOFM) is the bottom of the group, however he fares higher by way of 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 value 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 impression of high-volume innings totals from earlier eras, his rating remains to be spectacular. The newer model jumps him from 59th general to tied for forty second with Palmer and Smoltz, two pitchers typically thought-about no-doubt Corridor of Famers; in the meantime, he’s forty fifth in each profession WAR and in adjusted peak. Voters received’t see one other candidate above these rankings till Kershaw and associates (a quartet that additionally contains Justin Verlander) turn out to be eligible.

In introducing S-JAWS, I famous that Tiant is under 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 acquired 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, similar to 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 greater Monitor scores, with Bunning (98) the one different one under 100. The enshrined starters he outranks in S-JAWS principally had shorter careers in earlier eras, the place innings totals had been greater and runs much more scarce.

I’ve wavered on Tiant, primarily in gentle 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 at all times jumped out. On my digital 2018 Fashionable 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 robust 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 think about him extra strongly — however together with him on that poll would have hinged upon how a lot additional weight to present John for his personal comeback after the pioneering elbow surgical procedure that bears his identify.

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 greater. What I’m much less certain of is whether or not Tiant will emerge as one in all my prime three on my digital poll, or whether or not Corridor voters’ unlucky historical past of ready till after a candidate’s dying to acknowledge them — see Santo, Miñoso, and Allen for simply the most recent within the litany — means that I ought to put apart my comfortable resistance to the 81-year-old John and prioritize voting for him whereas he’s nonetheless round to understand the distinction. With three extra candidates to guage, I’ve a bit longer to consider it.