BEING MISTAKEN FOR LUIS TIANT.

BEING MISTAKEN FOR LUIS TIANT. Aside from Homer Simpson, the only celebrity I was ever mistaken for was Luis Tiant. I used to arouse astonishment when I announced this because Tiant’s face was well known even to casual baseball fans. His photo accompanies this wikipedia article. Even though sideburns were fashionable in the 70’s I would never have been able to achieve Tiant’s mustache and sideburns. Tiant was a great pitcher, as can be seen from his stats. He was known for his unusual pitching style, analyzed and celebrated by Roger Angell in the New Yorker. Wikipedia describes his many unusual deliveries: “Twisting and turning his body into unthinkable positions, Tiant would spend more time looking at second base than he did the plate as he prepared to throw.” The All Star game was in Philadelphia in 1976. I was in Philadelphia most of that Bicentennial Summer, and I was staying at the old line Bellevue-Stratford Hotel during the All-Star break. I was having breakfast there when a waitress came in calling “Mr. Louis Tiant! Mr. Louis Tiant!” I sat bolt upright, and she came over to me and said, “Mr. Tiant, there’s a telephone call for you.”