
El Tiante: A Red Sox Story
Director in Person
US, 2003, digital video, color, 27 min.
In the autumn of 1975 the streets of Boston simmered with racial tension. But on the mound at Fenway Park, Luis Tiant, a black Cuban exile whose flamboyant style and canny arsenal of unorthodox pitches had endeared him to local fans, was pitching his first game in the World Series against Cincinnati’s Red Machine. More than sixty years of shattered hopes for the Sox rested on the shoulders of El Tiante, who had battled back from a devastating injury to lead his team to the Series. The moment was equally emotional for the pitcher’s mother and father (the latter, a former Negro League star from the 1930s and 40s), who until this time had never been allowed to leave Cuba to see their son pitch. This compelling portrait of one of the all-time great Red Sox pitchers marks the 25th year of WGBH’s acclaimed series La Plaza, which has reflected the culture and concerns of Latinos to audiences nationwide.