Cuban baseball legend, Luis Tiant, dies at 83

Cuban Luis Tiant, one of the most peculiar and charismatic pitchers in Major League Baseball, died Tuesday at 83, the league reported.

Tiant was selected three times to the All-Star Game during a career in which he became an emblem of the Boston Red Sox (1971-1978), the franchise that inducted him into its Hall of Fame.

With his characteristic horseshoe mustache, Tiant's mound performances were among the great spectacles of his time in the majors. The Cuban right-hander displayed a wind-up spin on his pitches that confused his opponents and made him one of Fenway Park's favorite ballplayers.

In his fondly remembered stint in Boston, "El Tiante" lost the World Series in 1975 to the mighty Cincinnati Reds of Pete Rose, another baseball icon who passed away last September 30.

"Anyone who knew him, on or off the mound, knew he was a true force," the Red Sox acknowledged him. "A fixture at Fenway and Fort Myers well beyond his playing days, El Tiante was family."

The Cuban had a record of 229-172 in his 19 active seasons, in which he also defended Cleveland, Minnesota, the Yankees, Pittsburgh and the California Angels, the franchise with which he retired in 1982.

Son of a Negro League figure also named Luis Tiant, the Cuban left the island in 1959 to pitch for the Mexico City Tigers, where he was discovered by the Cleveland Rangers, who bought his contract for about $35,000.