Waits, a curveball specialist, matched Bob Feller by becoming the second Indian to win back-to-back openers (1979 and 1980). His complete-game victory over the Yankees on the last day of the 1978 season forced the Yankees-Red Sox playoff. In 1979 he led the Indians with a career-high 16 wins. After going 2-13 in 1982, pitching with tendinitis in his right knee, he was traded to Milwaukee.
