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COPYRIGHT 2005 South Florida Sun-Sentinal
Byline: Mike Berardino
BOSTON _ Early Sunday afternoon. First pitch is 20 minutes away, and the line for the El Tiante concession stand stretches halfway down Yawkey Way.
There is a reason for this, and it's not just the $6.75 Presidentes or the $7.75 pressed Cuban sandwiches sizzling on the outdoor grill.
Luis Tiant is here. Signing autographs. Posing for pictures. Stirring fond memories.
A one-man time machine.
One by one they approach the retired Red Sox pitcher with broad smiles and wide eyes. They offer outstretched hands. Humorous comments. Push their children forward to meet the great man.
"Louie! You're the best, Louie!" one man barks a little too loudly.
"Louie, thank you," a 40-something woman says. "I used to love to watch you."
"I used to watch you back in the `60s and `70s with my father," says another woman of the same generation. "I remember, Louie. You and Carl Yastrzemski."
Tiant smiles through his gray-streaked fu manchu. Signs another black-and-white. Slides it across the small table next to the grill.
Moments later, though, Tiant's mood changes. Someone asks him about the self-styled Black Aces, the group of 20-game winners organized by former pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant, the group Marlins ace Dontrelle Willis recently joined.
Now Tiant is angry.
"That's a shame what they did," Tiant, 64, says loudly. "Whoever came out with that idea, it's embarrassing to us. It stinks."
Four times the Cuban-born Tiant won 20 games in the big leagues, including three...
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