When the tribe's Luis Tiant threw four consecutive shutouts; Cleveland right-hander won 21 games and led the A.L. with a 1.60 ERA and nine shutouts - Turn Back The Clock—1968 - Statistical Data Included

Baseball Digest, July, 2002 by Bob Dolgan

LUIS TIANT WASN'T JUST ANOTHER good pitcher. He was one of the most entertaining hurlers in baseball history.

His choreographed windup had a wide range of motions. He would bob his head, turn his back on the batter, look skyward or into the field boxes, then deliver the ball from a bewildering array of angles, overhand, sidearm or even underhand.

"I didn't do it for show," Tiant, 61, said. "I did it to get batters out. Players would tell me, `We can't tell where the ball is coming from.'"

Tiant was at his best in the spring of 1968, when he threw four straight shutouts. It is a Cleveland Indians club record and one short of the American League mark of five in a row, set by Doc White of the Chicago White Sox 98 years ago.

It was an unforgettable season for the Cuban right-hander. A few weeks after the four straight zeroes, he struck out 19 while winning a 10-inning game, 1-0. "That was the best game I ever pitched," he said. "I had everything."

He won 21 and lost nine in that sensational 1968 season, while leading the league with an earned run average of 1.60 and in shutouts with nine.

His fastball burned up hitters' bats. "I'd say 75 percent of my pitches were fastballs," he said.

"The fastball is the best pitch in baseball. It's like having five pitches, if you move it around."

"Tiant had a backup curveball," said Joe Azcue, 62, who was his favorite catcher. "It never broke. His changeup was so-so. But he had pinpoint control and could bring it, about 95 miles an hour. And he had a hell of a move to first base. He liked to talk to the hitters. He'd say, `Hit it baby.'"

The stocky Tiant, who was listed at 6-0 but was really only about 5-9, was one of the club's most likable players of the era. A clubhouse joker, he loved cigars and smoked them anywhere, including the shower. He was nicknamed "Looie" or "El Tiante."

"It was fun playing behind him," said former third baseman Max Alvis, 64. "He'd get on the rubber and throw in a hurry. Everybody was on their toes because he was always around the plate. He had bulldog competitiveness."

THE BEGINNING

Tiant began his spectacular shutout streak on April 28, 1968, throwing a two-hitter over the Senators in Washington for a 2-0 victory. Senators slugger Frank Howard struck out on Tiant's hesitation pitch. "I give him shoulder, back, foot and the ball last," Tiant told the Cleveland Press.

"He threw everything at me but the ball," Howard said.

Tiant was considered the Indians' fourth starter on a strong staff that included Sudden Sam McDowell, Sonny Siebert and Steve Hargan.

On May 3, Tiant fired a three-hitter over Minnesota at Cleveland Stadium, throwing 122 pitches in a 4-0 triumph. The Plain Dealer said, "a surprisingly good crowd of 5,106" saw the action. That shows the condition Cleveland baseball was in then. Tiant needed only two hours, 12 minutes to win. "Pitching is 85 percent luck," he said.

He also complimented Azcue. "He speak my language," said Tiant in broken English. "Duke Sims is good too, but he no speak Spanish."

Four days later, Tiant hurled his third straight zero, beating the Yankees, 8-0, in New York on a five-hitter in which he delivered 129 pitches. He fanned 10 and hit a two-run single.

On May 12, Tiant stepped into the Cleveland record book with a four-hit, 2-0 shutout of Baltimore at Municipal Stadium in which he struck out nine. His ERA fell to a dazzling 1.03.

"I'm hitting the spots," said Tiant. "I've got control like I never had before."

O'S UNHAPPY

Tiant was upset because the Orioles, who had future Hall of Famers Frank and Brooks Robinson, complained about his hesitation pitch. But umpire John Flaherty ruled it was a legal pitch if nobody was on base.

During the four shutouts, Tiant yielded 14 hits and struck out 35.

On May 17, Tiant went after White's record of five straight blanks. "I am feeling the pressure but I am not scared," he said.

The Orioles finally stopped Tiant at 41 straight shutout innings when Boog Powell hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning in a 6-2 defeat of the Indians at the Stadium.

A crowd of only 14,125.watched the heavily promoted game. The Indians were 17-14, three games out of first place.

Tiant hit his zenith on July 3, with his 19-strikeout game, most in Indians history. The game was scoreless in the 10th when the Twins put men on first and third with nobody out. With a crowd of 21,125 on its feet and screaming, Tiant struck out John Roseboro, Rich Rollins and pitcher Jim Merritt to surpass Bob Feller's mark of 18 K's, which was done in a nine-inning match.

The Indians won in the bottom of the inning when the immortal Azcue singled in Sweet Lou Johnson.

Tiant threw 135 pitches. "I've never seen a fastball thrown so hard for so many innings," said Roseboro, who had caught Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

BAD PLOY

Giddy over his 21-9 record, 254 strikeouts and 19 complete games, the Indians brass hoped to make Tiant even better. They told him to forsake his usual practice of pitching in winter ball and rest. It was a classic case of trying to fix something that had nothing wrong with it.