Word: tiant
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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There is no other delivery like it in baseball. After winding up with a spasmodic ensemble of twitches, hesitations and jerks, Boston Red Sox Righthander Luis Tiant turns his back to home plate, kicks toward third, then spins around to ward the batter like a pirouetting ballerina high on amphetamines. As if that were not enough, Tiant finally releases the ball anywhere from over his head to just above his knee. The motion is so wild that Comedian Don Rickles has incorporated it into his act. "I think I confuse the hitters," Tiant explains. "They can't tell where...
...right. The latest team to swing at Tiant's pitches was the California Angels. Like nine blind mice, they managed to scratch out only four hits and no runs last week. That gave Tiant his 18th victory, practically assuring him of a second consecutive season as a 20-game winner, with a good shot at 25 victories by October. By no coincidence, at week's end the Red Sox had a firm hold on first place in the American League's Eastern Division...
...whose age is ofiicially listed as 33 but could be 36, 37 or whatever. His success is even more remarkable for a pitcher who was floundering in the minor leagues only three years ago. Excess weight and a cracked shoulder blade had apparently ended Tiant's career after several solid years in the majors, including one 21 -victory season with the Cleveland Indians...
Dwight Evan hoisted a Vida Blue fastball down the right field line for a three-run homer and Luis Tiant scattered six Oakland hits to lead the Red Sox to a 4-1 triumph over the A's last night in Fenway Park...
...seventh inning, starters Tiant and Jim Palmer went to the showers and in the bleachers grown men began to take off their clothes. The streakers galvanized the bleachers by running from top to bottom. But in the left field stands a fat man with his shirt off drunkenly played the exhibitionist, puckishly pulling down his pants at various inspired moments. The fans booed when equally fat policemen swaggered over to curtail the brouhaha...