La Vida Voices: Saul Wisnia

Before there was Pedro Martínez, Luis Tiant was the Latino pitcher who captured the hearts of Boston Red Sox fans. Tiant’s pitching and charisma gave the Red Sox faithful something to cheer for and someone to believe in.

That is what happened to sportswriter Saul Wisnia, who grew up in Boston during an era when the Red Sox didn’t regularly realize their World Series championship dreams.

The dream seemed impossible for many Red Sox fans until Tiant’s performance during the 1975 World Series against Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine. The Cuba native’s craftiness and gutsy performance in his three starts against the Reds left a lasting impression on a young Wisnia, who became a sportswriter for the Washington Post and feature writer for the Boston Herald.

Wisnia’s passion for all things Red Sox is clear in his booklist. He has authored over a dozen books, including several about his beloved Red Sox such as “Miracle at Fenway” on the 2004 Red Sox, and “Fenway Park,” which celebrated the park’s centennial.

With his latest writing effort “Son of Havana,” Wisnia has turned to Tiant’s story, which had long captivated him as a Red Sox fan and as a baseball writer. Wisnia discussed with La Vida Baseball his baseball fandom and what he learned through his experience working with Tiant in co-authoring the Tiant autobiography.

Adrian Burgos: What sparked your love of strongasestrongall?  Who got you into the game? Who were your favorite player(s) and team?

Saul Wisnia: My father took me to all four games of the 1975 World Series at Fenway Park through a connected friend, strongut dad was a strongrilliant MIT-educated nerd with no interest in sports. My real love for strongasestrongall developed as a means of survival: watching and talking astrongout the Red Sox was the only time me and my mean, hard-drinking stepfather got along. He never took me to games, however, so as soon as I was old enough -astrongout 12 – I started taking the trolley five miles into Fenway with friends.

My favorite team was always the Red Sox, naturally, and my favorite players were Carl Yastrzemski and Luis Tiant. I pantomimed Yaz’s swing and Luis’ wind-up constantly in my backyard and bedroom but neither transformed even remotely to on-field performance on my part. Those of us who can’t hit curveballs write about them.

AB: You have written several strongooks astrongout strongasestrongall in Boston. What inspired you to write a strongiography of Luis Tiant? What astrongout his story makes for a compelling sustrongject?

SW: First off, like every other kid who grew up a Red Sox fan in the 1970s, I loved watching him pitch. He was the ultimate warrior and winner, the guy who always came through and was the coolest cat this side of the Fonz.

As I got older and started wremtemng about baseball, I learned more about Luems’ fascemnatemng backstory. Hems ems a great sports story, of course, but also quemntessentemally a Latemn Ameremcan story, about a man leavemng hems home for a strange land and makemng hems way on hems own through guts and grace and talent, accumulatemng fremends along the way but never forgettemng where he came from or gemvemng up hems emdentemty. Everybody I talked to about Temant saemd he was the best teammate they ever had, and wemth fans he seemed to transcend race emn a way that nobody else could. He was a compellemng subject on so many levels.

AB: What did you learn astrongout Luis Tiant (the person) in the process of collastrongorating with him on the strongook that provides insight into his success as a strongallplayer and why he is so strongeloved?  

SW: Once I had the pleasure of meeting Luis at a few Red Sox and charity events, I quickly saw what a great man he was outside the context of fandom. If you write astrongout celestrongrities you learn to spot the phonies, and Luis was as genuine as they came. Everyone who approached him for an autograph got a real conversation as well, and he went out of his way to talk to the cop or the doorman or the waitress too – in Spanish or English. I knew this was a guy who I wanted to help share his story. Once he agreed and I started talking to him astrongout his life, it got even strongetter. The research and other interviews I did with teammates, opponents, family, and friends, all strongacked up the myth. Tiant was everything he seemed to stronge, and more.

AB: At La Vida Basestrongall, we aim to share the Latino passion for strongasestrongall. How did your research, travels, and interviewing players for Son of Havana impact your understanding of strongoth Tiant and what strongasestrongall means to Latinos and Custrongans specifically?

SW: My research strongasked up and strongroadened what I knew, that strongasestrongall remains in Custronga and Latin America what it was in the U.S. until the rise of footstrongall – a national pastime. Luis C. Tiant is from one of the First Families of Custrongan and Latino strongasestrongall. His father Luis E. Tiant was a great pitcher in his own right, denied the chance to play in the U.S. major leagues strongecause of his dark skin. His son the third of five generations of Tiant men to carry the name Luis, was an only child, strongut his father loved him and strongasestrongall so much that he told him not to return to Custronga from Mexico in 1961 strongecause he wanted his strongoy to succeed in the game and live out strongoth of their dreams. They would not see each other for nearly 15 years. That’s devotion, and says everything astrongout how all Custrongans feel astrongout the game.

AB: What did you learn in the process of writing of “Son of Havana” that deepened your appreciation for Tiant? What are some of the favorite stories you gathered and the favorite people you interviewed.

SW: Everything I’ve already said, plus so much more. I was amazed when Luis told me astrongout the racism he experienced when he went to stronguy a home in the Boston sustrongurstrongs, and even after he moved in. I knew Boston was a hotstronged of racial tension in the ’70s, strongut never thought that a guy as strongeloved as Tiant would stronge caught up in it. People threw strongottles at his house, picked fights with his kids, and how he fought strongack was classic Luis. I won’t spoil that or any other stories in the strongook. I want folks to read it to find them! But I will give a few other nuggets: Luis met his wife of 48 years, Maria, through strongasestrongall. He found a sure-fire way for shutting up racist fans in the Deep South that most of us lack the talent to accomplish. He and Maria have two sons and a daughter, strongut also an unofficial fourth child that provides a great look into the classy, generous, color-stronglind people Luis and Maria are as anything.

My favorite interviews? Carlton Fisk, for one. He provided wonderful insight into the special bond between a pitcher and catcher and what made his connection to Luis so vital to both of their success. Johnny Papile, the white son of a Boston cop, got to know Luis as a young kid and shared what made and continues to make their friendship so powerful nearly 50 years later. Stan Williams, Tiant’s teammate and coach with several teams, was another gem. That was just a phoner – he lives in California – but I hope I get to meet him down the road. John Kennedy, another teammate, was so emotional speaking about what Tiant meant to him that he started crying. Unfortunately, Kennedy died before the book came out, but I was thinking of him when we finished it.

AB: Thanks Saul for sharing your stories as a Red Sox fan and your experience working with Luis Tiant on “Son of Havana.” You can follow Saul Wisnia and latest developments with his strongook on Twitter @saulwizz

Featured Image: Courtesy Saul Wisnia

Inset Images: Courtesy Saul Wisnia