Does Luis Tiant deserve a second look for his HOF case? His.....?

Their stats are very similar. In my opinion, Bunning was a borderline candidate that the veterans committee voted in 5 years after his eligibility ran out. He was 8/10ths of a point away from being inducted by the BBWAA in his 12th year out of 15.

Tiant never got close, never appearing on more than 18% of ballots after his first year of eligibility when he got 31%.

Why that is is hard to say. Some might automatically go to the race card. I don't buy that. What I do buy is covered very well in this article:

https://www.cooperstowncred.com/last-chance-for-lu...

He was the victim of bad timing. As his 15 years on the ballot were ticking, newly-eligible and much better candidates were being added every year and he was competing against them.

Depends on how you look at it.  I really don't consider Tiant's numbers Hall of Fame worthy.  It's supposed to be the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Very Very Good.

On the other hand, he spent the first six years of his career with some pretty bad Cleveland teams.  And then you look at the numbers of some of the guys who have gotten in over the past 10-15 years, and Tiant's are every bit as good, if not better.

So, yeah, I'd say El Tiante deserves a spot in Cooperstown, because you're not going to take those other guys out.

John Smoltz. Dazzy Vance. Hal Newhouser. Sandy Koufax. Don Drysdale. Catfish Hunter. Roy Halladay. Lefty Gomez. Dizzy Dean.

These are just some of the HoF starting pitchers who had fewer wins than El Tiante.

Tom Glavine's career ERA was higher than Tiant's. Same goes for Gomez, Halladay, Waite Hoyt, Early Wynn and Jack Morris.

If they're in, Tiant should be, too.