On Tuesday night, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela tragically passed away due to a long-term health issue at an LA hospital. He was 63.
His death is heartbreaking for a Southern California baseball community that dearly loves him and that he faithfully represented throughout his career as a player and broadcaster.
This edition of the column is dedicated to honoring Fernando’s memory.
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Fernando Valenzuela’s life’s journey is the kind of story that’s even bigger and better than anything the best script writers in the world, in their Hollywood offices a few miles away from where Valenzuela pitched, could have ever conceived of.
Valenzuela was born on November 1, 1960 in Etchohuaquila, Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico. He was the youngest of 12 children and his parents were poor farmers. Valenzuela and his siblings had to help their parents work the land to make ends meet.
In his free time, Valenzuela loved baseball, a passion passed to him by his older brothers. He would tag along to their games and play against the older competition.
In 1977, when he was just 17 years old, Valenzuela started a professional baseball career in Mexico. He had one goal: playing in America, in the big leagues.
Fortunately for him, scouts were watching, including those from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Three short years later, Valenzuela took the mound for his first MLB appearances out of the Dodger bullpen in 1980.
But the next year, fate would catapult Valenzuela into stardom.
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The hit song “Fernando” by Abba was released 5 years before Valenzuela took the mound for the Dodgers on opening day in 1981, but if you didn’t know that, you might have thought the song was written about that fateful day.
One particularly auspicious line reads: “There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando.”
The game may have started at 1:11 PM PT, but there was indeed something in the air as the star that Valenzuela became was shone brightly through the Southern California afternoon. Valenzuela wasn’t even supposed to pitch that day. But an injury to Dodgers ace Jerry Ruess pressed the 20-year old rookie into service.
So when the Dodgers took the field for the first time during the 1981 season at Dodger Stadium, Valenzuela jogged out and began warming up his unorthodox throwing motion.
Stepping back with his right foot, Valenzuela would raise his arms and look directly to the sky as if asking God for the strength to throw each pitch before bringing his arms and right leg together, striding forward, and flinging the ball in a low flash of a three-quarter release.
Perhaps it was the motion, or the screwball that Valenzuela had as part of his arsenal, but the Houston Astros hitters were absolutely stymied that day as Valenzuela threw a complete game shutout.
That day was the start of perhaps the most iconic individual player’s season in the Los Angeles era of Dodgers history, and the start of a long and deep love affair between Valenzuela and Dodger fans.
But one demographic of Dodger fans fell harder than anybody else.
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Back in 1962, when Dodger Stadium opened, the beautiful new ballpark hid an ugly truth within its walls.
To secure the land the stadium sits on, the Dodgers organization had to push out around 2,000 families living in the area the stadium now occupies, with most of them being Mexican-Americans. Needless to say, the Dodgers left that community with a bad taste in their mouth in the early years of their existence.
But then Valenzuela came around. Out of nowhere, the franchise that had previously only represented the colonizers that pushed Mexicans out were led by the first Mexican-born player in MLB history. Not only that, but he was the best pitcher in baseball in his first full season in the big leagues.
To begin that fateful 1981 season, Valenzuela started eight games and completed seven of them, going 8-0 with five shutouts and a ridiculous 0.50 ERA.
And he inspired Latinos all over LA. Valenzuela represented the American dream, what many of those Mexican-Americans came to California for in the first place. He inspired them like no MLB-er had been able to before.
So, they refilled Chavez Ravine. They couldn’t get their houses back, but Valenzeula could make Dodger Stadium a home away from home for Latinos.
They fueled the nationwide fervor for Valenzuela’s incredible talent, singing along with the ABBA song that, seemingly by destiny, had begun being played over the Dodgers’ PA system when Valenzuela warmed up for his starts.
“There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernandooooooo!”
Whether they were speaking about that fateful Opening Day, the game they were currently attending, or some game they’d attend in the future, those fans all had memories and meaning attached to seeing Valenzuela play— the absolute most that an athlete can mean to a fanbase.
Today, Latino fans make up over half of the Dodger fanbase. They have played a massive role in defining modern Dodger fan culture, which is rich with Latin influence.
And when Game 1 of the World Series rolls around, Latinos all around the city will wear their Dodgers gear proudly, head to Dodger Stadium and tune in remotely if they can’t, both to celebrate their current team and mourn the loss of a hero.
On Friday, Los Angeles will look like the City that Fernando Built. And what a beautiful thing that will be.
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Valenzuela contributed so much to the Dodgers organization over the years. He truly loved the organization back like few other superstars ever have.
In his eleven seasons with the Boys in Blue, Valenzuela made the All-Star team six times, all in a six-year stretch from 1981-86. He led the league in complete games three times. He won the Silver Slugger twice; back in an era when pitchers hit, he was one of the best of the best. He had 10 career home runs and would even be used occasionally by Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda as a pinch hitter. He won the Gold Glove in 1986. He threw a no-hitter in 1990.
After he retired, he even returned to the Dodgers to be a Spanish-language broadcaster, which he did from 2003 until the start of this postseason, when he stepped away from the booth because of his health.
He did it all, giving his whole heart to the Dodgers.
But amidst all of that, the Fernandomania rookie season of 1981 shines the brightest. During that season, Valenzuela led the league in complete games, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeouts. He became the first and only player thus far in baseball history to win the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young awards in the same season. He won one of his silver slugger awards that season.
And, amidst the difficulties of a strike-shortened season, he led the Dodgers to the World Series, where they would face the hated New York Yankees for the World Championship.
In Game 3 with the Dodgers down 2-0 in the series and their backs against the wall, LA turned to Valenzuela to save its season.
He didn’t turn in his best performance. He gave up nine hits, seven walks and four runs.
But through it all, he finished the game. 147 pitches later, he’d poured his heart out and done just enough to deliver Los Angeles a 5-4 victory, shifting the momentum back in his team’s favor.
The Dodgers went on to win the next three games consecutively to win it all in six.
In 2024, the Dodgers and Yankees will meet in the fall classic for the 12th time. That is more than any other two teams have met in World Series history.
But that 1981 series still represents the most recent Dodgers-Yankees bout; it’s been 43 years since the two played each other on baseball’s biggest stage.
This World Series is a rivalry renewal that Valenzuela surely would have loved to be a part of. His presence at the ballpark, and on the Spanish broadcast, will be sorely missed. One can only imagine what kind of stories he would have told as he reflected on his own World Series heroics against the Yankees 43 years prior.
But if the Dodgers are able to pull off a World Series victory, they will do so because Fernandomania is alive and well. They will need every part of Valenzuela’s bulldog spirit to take down the vaunted Yankees amidst all the injuries to their roster and especially the pitching staff.
Here’s to hoping that, in their attempt to pull it off, the Dodgers keep Valenzuela at the top of their mind and heart. Then, perhaps, the sounds of ABBA will echo through Chavez Ravine as they raise the trophy and those who loved Valenzuela the most sing through their tears.
“There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernandoooooo!”
And here’s to hoping that regardless of the result, Valenzuela is somewhere smiling down from Heaven as he takes in the series, always proud of his Dodgers family, win or lose.