Luis Tiant ("El Tiante") was a Cuban baseball player who pitched in nineteen seasons in Major League Baseball, mostly with the Cleveland Indians (1964-9) and Boston Red Sox (1971-8). He amassed a career 229 wins, a career 3.30 ERA, and struck out 2,416. His strikeout total is still among the all time leaders of baseball.
Tiant was selected to three All-Star teams and earned the American League Comeback Player of the Year award in 1972.
He was selected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997.
On Cheers[]
Tiant was not a visitor to Cheers; he was seen only on the television screen, starring in the same beer commercial Sam appeared in, in the episode "Now Pitching, Sam Malone". In the commercial, Tiant flubs the tagline for the beer being advertised (Fields) - which is, 'you don't feel full with Fields, you just feel fine' - and Sam has to come in to get the "save".
Ken Levine, in his online blog, commented that the scene with Tiant took many takes to complete.