The former Red Sox pitcher known for his horseshoe mustache and the nickname “El Tiante” has died.

Luis Tiant was 83 years old.

Major League Baseball announced Tiant’s death on X.

Tiant was born in Cuba in 1940, the son of Negro Leagues star Luis Tiant Sr. He found baseball when he was young but despite being a great player there, the country didn’t have professional baseball after Fidel Castro rose to power in 1959, the MLB said.

The younger Tiant played for the Mexico City Tigers from 1959 through 1961, hoping to get scouted. He finally did when Cleveland bought his contract from the team before the 1962 season.

He played for three seasons in the minors until Cleveland needed a starter for a game against the Yankees. He had a four-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts against Whitey Ford in his first game, according to MLB.

The younger Tiant talked about that game in the 2009 documentary “Lost Son of Havana.”

“I was not nervous, but had a little tension. “You’re pitching against (the) best team in baseball, you’re a rookie. That day was my day. They let me do what my father couldn’t do,” he said.

He started in the 1968 All-Star Game. His father was able to watch him on television.

But the next season Tiant was having problems with his arm. In 1970, playing for the Twins, he broke his scapula and was told he would never pitch again. The Twins cut him in 1971 and the Braves’ Minor League teams signed him just days later.

That cut paved the way to nearly winning a World Series as he was signed two days later by the Red Sox. He was in the minors when the Sox called him up. He was still working on rehabbing his arm and didn’t do well.

The next season everything changed. He had changed his pitch delivery.

“I knew I needed something different,” he said, according to the MLB. “I had to do something so I could hide the ball better to keep me back more. It gave me more power. I changed my delivery completely.”

From 1973 to 1976, he ended up winning 81 games for the Red Sox.

In 1975, he got to reunite with his father and mother when they arrived in August. His father was invited to throw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game against the Angels when his son was starting. The elder Tiant threw a strike as his son held his sports coat behind the mound, MLB said.

In October 1975, the Sox started their World Series quest and he had a shutout against the Athletics in Game 1 of the American League Championship. He also had a shutout against the Reds in the World Series. The Sox needed to win Game 4 to tie the Series, which they did, with Tiant throwing 155 pitches for the 5-4 victory.

But Game 7 was where the dream ended. They lost to the Reds 4-3.

At the end of his career he was 229-172 with a 3.30 ERA and 2,416 strikeouts. He threw 187 complete games with 47 shutouts, ESPN reported.

Once he left the game Tiant stayed in the Boston area and opened a Cuban food stand near Fenway Park.

He was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame and the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Hall of Fame but not the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He had 30.9% of votes the first year on the ballot but it wasn’t enough. When he was included in the “Golden Era” ballot he also didn’t have enough votes, The Associated Press and ESPN reported.

Tiant died at his home in Maine, according to the AP.

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