Fernando Valenzuela (1960-2024), Ace Pitcher and World Ambassador

On October 23, 1981 in Los Angeles, the Dodgers discovered themselves in an all-too-familiar spot: on the brief finish of a World Sequence tally towards the Yankees. Down two video games to none after the primary leg of the sequence within the Bronx, they wanted a win at Dodger Stadium to take care of any actual hope of a comeback. Thankfully, that they had an ace up their sleeve in Fernando Valenzuela. The portly 20-year-old Mexican southpaw had seemingly emerged from nowhere to turn out to be an in a single day sensation, when he opened the season with eight straight wins, 5 of them shutouts. He wouldn’t be as stingy on this evening, as a substitute gritting out an 147-pitch full recreation, working round 9 hits and 7 walks with what felt like limitless reserves of guile and moxie — a Herculean effort that recalled Luis Tiant’s 155-pitch grind in Sport 4 of the 1975 World Sequence. The Dodgers’ 5-4 victory turned the World Sequence round; they received the subsequent three video games as nicely, taking the sequence in six without having their younger ace once more.

Sadly, simply three days away from the first World Sequence rematch between the 2 storied franchises since then, Valenzuela died on Tuesday on the age of 63. No explanation for dying was given. In late September, he left his position as one of many crew’s Spanish-language broadcasters and was hospitalized; on October 2, the Dodgers introduced that he had stepped away “to concentrate on his well being,” and that his household had “requested for privateness throughout this time.” The Dodgers introduced on Thursday that they’ll put on a patch in his honor, each for the World Sequence and for 2025.

That is a fully heartbreaking flip of occasions, not just for the Dodgers and their followers however for the baseball world in Southern California and past. Valenzuela wasn’t only a star pitcher, he was a beloved world ambassador who introduced generations of Mexican American and Latino followers to baseball and helped to heal the injuries attributable to the constructing of the very ballpark during which he starred. His enchantment was hardly restricted to those that shared his background. For me, an 11-year-old baseball nut and third-generation Dodgers fan rising up in Salt Lake Metropolis, Valenzuela was a up to date hero, a magical participant whose superhuman feats made something appear potential. The phenom whose field scores I clipped from the Salt Lake Tribune turned the equalizer who helped avenge the crew’s back-to-back losses to the Yankees within the 1977 and ’78 World Sequence, on the daybreak of my baseball consciousness.

Regardless of talking barely a phrase of English, Valenzuela had turn out to be a global celeb in 1981, charming the baseball world — and increasing its attain — along with his bashful smile whereas bedeviling hitters with impeccable command of his screwball, delivered following a excessive leg kick and a skyward gaze on the peak of his windup. Followers flocked to his video games in Los Angeles and elsewhere, setting off Fernandomania. Valenzuela graced the duvet of Sports activities Illustrated lower than two months into his rookie season, and shortly afterward was invited to the White Home. In Dawn at Chavez Ravine, a 2023 biography, writer Erik Sherman described the pitcher as baseball’s model of the Beatles, a composite of the Fab 4 with a common enchantment.

Valenzuela received the 1981 NL Rookie of the 12 months and Cy Younger awards, made six consecutive All-Star groups throughout a 17-season main league profession, after which spent the previous 22 seasons in his broadcasting position. In 2019, the crew included him inside their inaugural class of Legends of Dodger Baseball. In 2023, the Dodgers devoted a full Fernandomania Weekend in his honor. The festivities culminated with the retirement of his jersey no. 34, which tools supervisor Mitch Poole had saved out of circulation since his 1991 launch. The franchise had nearly completely restricted jersey retirements to Corridor of Famers, however the transfer befit Valenzuela’s iconic stature with the crew and inside the bigger neighborhood. The lone exception to the coverage got here in 1978, when coach Jim Gilliam, who had starred for the Dodgers throughout a 1953–66 run, died of a mind hemorrhage on October 8, the day after the Dodgers received the NLCS.

“Roberto Clemente is ‘The Nice One,’ however culturally, Fernando Valenzuela has been extra important when it comes to bringing a fan base that didn’t exist in baseball,” José de Jesus Ortiz, the primary Latino president of the BBWAA, informed Sherman for Dawn. Within the New York Occasions, Scott Miller reported that the Dodgers estimate that greater than 40% of their present fan base is Hispanic.

My favourite picture of Fernando Valenzuela, as a result of it captures the enjoyment and the magic of Fernandomania. The boy shaking his hand is proud to put on his charro outfit, proud to be precisely who he’s. Fernandomania was all concerning the energy of illustration and the facility of authenticity. pic.twitter.com/s9LzchocCy

— Nathalie Alonso (@NathalieMLB) October 23, 2024

“He is without doubt one of the most influential Dodgers ever and belongs on the Mount Rushmore of franchise heroes,” Stan Kasten, crew president and CEO, mentioned in a press release. “He galvanized the fan base with the Fernandomania season of 1981 and has remained near our hearts ever since, not solely as a participant but additionally as a broadcaster. He has left us all too quickly.”

For his profession, Valenzuela went 173-153 with a 3.54 ERA (104 ERA+), 31 shutouts, and a couple of,074 strikeouts in 2,930 innings. Along with profitable the Cy Younger, he positioned among the many high 5 in voting three different instances. He sparkled in October, going 5-1 with a 1.98 ERA in 63 2/3 innings. In eight postseason begins, he allowed greater than three runs simply as soon as, within the aforementioned World Sequence recreation.

Valenzuela didn’t precisely come out of nowhere, however the 150-person city of Etchohuaquila, Mexico, the place he was born on November 1, 1960, was the humblest of beginnings. He was the youngest of 12 youngsters of oldsters Avelino and María, farmers who lived in a home with filth and concrete flooring, no electrical energy and no operating water. “The household could be very, very poor. The farm is about half the dimensions of the Dodger Stadium infield, about from shortstop to dwelling plate,” superscout Mike Brito (he of the omnipresent Panama hat and radar gun) informed Sports activities Illustrated’s Steve Wulf for a March 23, 1981 function on the rookie. Whereas rising up, Valenzuela and his six older brothers earned extra cash engaged on a close-by ranch within the afternoons.

As a teen, Fernando performed soccer in addition to baseball. By age 13, he had joined his brothers in town crew. The oldest, Rafael, marveled at his arm energy, telling Fernando, “You will have the arm to be a pitcher.”

In 1976, the 15-year-old Valenzuela signed his first skilled contract with the Mayos de Navojoa of the Mexican Pacific League, a winter league; they farmed him out to their affiliate, Cafeteros de Tepic. The following yr, he signed with Puebla of the Mexican Central League, and in flip the crew loaned him to the Guanajuato Tuzos, for whom he went 5-6 with a 2.23 ERA and a league-high 91 strikeouts. After the MCL was absorbed into the Mexican League the next yr, Valenzuela went 10-12 with a 2.49 ERA and 141 strikeouts for Leones de Yucatán.

The Cuban-born Brito, who had caught within the Washington Senators group within the mid-Fifties, noticed Valenzuela whereas scouting Silao shortstop Ali Uscanga in a recreation towards Guanajuato, a begin during which Valenzuela struck out 12 batters. The following yr, Brito introduced Dodgers basic supervisor Al Campanis to Mexico to see Valenzuela pitch. After protracted negotiations, the Dodgers paid Puebla proprietor Jaime Avella $120,000 — $20,000 of which went to the pitcher. Avella honored a dedication to provide the Dodgers first crack at Valenzuela regardless of the Yankees’ providing $150,000.

In late 1979, Valenzuela made a formidable three-start stateside debut with the Dodgers’ A-level Lodi affiliate, and was despatched to the Arizona Educational League, the place his future Dodgers teammate Bobby Castillo — a Brito discovery who had washed out as an infielder within the Royals group, after which dominated as a pitcher within the Mexican League in 1976 and ’77 earlier than being signed by the Dodgers — taught the younger lefty the screwball. Castillo had picked up ideas each from main league reliever Enrique Romo and the best screwballer of all time, Corridor of Famer Carl Hubbell, who recommended his protege to throw quick and gradual variations of the pitch.

Valenzuela proved a fast research, greater than holding his personal as a 19-year-old at Double-A San Antonio in 1980. The Dodgers known as him up after a stretch during which he’d gone 7-0 with a 0.87 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 62 innings, a Texas League dry run for the approaching streak. Whilst a digital unknown, he drew more and more loud ovations upon coming into video games, notably as a result of he was simply the second native Mexican to pitch for the Dodgers since their transfer to L.A. — important given the unique sin of evicting practically 2,000 Mexican American households from the Chavez Ravine barrio. That course of started within the early Fifties with town’s plan to construct public housing; when these plans fell aside, town used the land to lure O’Malley, utilizing eminent area to clear the final of these households earlier than constructing Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962.

In line with Jaime Jarrín, the Dodgers’ Ford Frick Award-winning Spanish-language broadcaster from 1959–2022, proprietor Walter O’Malley sought “a Mexican Sandy Koufax“ with a purpose to develop the fan base. “He realized it was very, essential to please the Mexican neighborhood in Southern California, as a result of he knew that they have been going to return to the ballpark,” Jarrín informed the Los Angeles Occasions for a 2021 documentary sequence, Fernandomania at 40.

Valenzuela arrived amid a good NL West race. The Dodgers had gone 20-5 from August 19 to September 14 however gained simply two video games on the division-leading Astros. Debuting on September 15 with two innings of reduction towards the Braves, Valenzuela struck out Jerry Royster however allowed two unearned runs stemming from errors by his infielders. 4 days later, he threw three shutout innings towards the Reds, putting out Johnny Bench and three others. Rapidly gaining the belief of supervisor Tommy Lasorda, he was thrust into high-leverage conditions — and he dominated. In 17 2/3 innings, he allowed simply eight hits and 5 walks whereas putting out 16; he didn’t yield a single earned run. The Dodgers ended the 162-game schedule by beating the Astros in three straight video games to tie them at 92-70. Whereas Valenzuela would have been an impressed selection to start out the tiebreaker recreation, he’d labored two innings the day earlier than, so Lasorda as a substitute tabbed Dave Goltz, who received shellacked; the Dodgers trailed 7-1 by the point Valenzuela turned in two shutout innings.

The wait until subsequent yr included appreciable hype. The Dodgers featured Valenzuela on the again of their 1981 media information, Fleer issued a standalone rookie card, and SI’s Wulf penned the aforementioned profile, writing, “His ancestry is Mayan Indian, and he speaks simply sufficient English to order a beer. He’s a left-handed pitcher, and his physique is extra harking back to former Dodger left-hander Tommy Lasorda than it’s of former Dodger left-hander Sandy Koufax. His future is extra Koufax, although, than Lasorda.”

With workers stalwart Don Sutton departing through free company after the 1980 season, the pump was primed for the crew to provide a 3rd straight NL Rookie of the 12 months to observe Rick Sutcliffe (1979) and Steve Howe (1980). Anticipated to compete with Sutcliffe and Goltz for a rotation spot behind Jerry Reuss, Burt Hooton, and Bob Welch, Valenzuela received the battle, then was tabbed to fill in for Reuss, who suffered a calf pressure, on Opening Day. Going through the Astros in entrance of fifty,511 followers at Dodger Stadium, he spun a five-hit shutout, putting out 5 over the course of 106 pitches. He was off to the races.

Each Valenzuela’s San Diego and Houston begins have been on three days of relaxation, for some purpose; within the latter, he drove within the recreation’s solely run. Inside 24 hours, the Dodgers bought out the entire reserved seats for his subsequent begin at Dodger Stadium — an unprecedented incidence, as crew vp Fred Claire informed SI. The phrase “Fernandomania” made its debut in print atop a Scott Ostler column within the April 27 Los Angeles Occasions; inside, Jarrín, who was doubling as Valenzuela’s interpreter, mentioned, “I’ve been doing Dodger video games for twenty-four years and I’ve by no means seen this type of response to a ballplayer.” So many individuals questioned Valenzuela’s age that the Occasions printed a replica of his start certificates.

In entrance of 49,478 followers for simply his second dwelling begin, Valenzuela blanked the Giants whereas going 3-for-4 and once more driving within the recreation’s first run. The streak, which had helped the Dodgers to a scorching 14-3 begin, led SI’s Jim Kaplan to jot down about “The Epidemic of Fernando Fever” for its Might 4 version:

Delivered with a high-kicking movement that brings to thoughts Juan Marichal, Valenzuela’s scroogie tails away from right-handed hitters. When righties crowd the plate to get a greater shot at it, Valenzuela jams them with an inside fastball he perfected underneath the tutelage of Pitching Coach Ron Perranoski. However like most excellent pitchers, Valenzuela depends as a lot on rigorously nurtured expertise as uncooked potential. “He can hit both nook along with his fastball, throw the scroogie at two totally different speeds and are available in with a advantageous curve,” says Perranoski.

The elevated media consideration led the Dodgers to restrict Valenzuela’s availability on the street to 1 press convention on his first day on the town, and one other after he pitched. At Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, he ran his scoreless streak to 36 innings earlier than surrendering the game-tying run; he yielded to a pinch-hitter within the high of the Tenth, throughout which the Dodgers scored 5 runs. Kaplan checked in once more in New York for what would turn out to be the journal’s Might 18 cowl story. In entrance of 39,848 followers at Shea Stadium, he stranded seven runners within the first three innings, ending with a 137-pitch, 11-strikeout full recreation. “Like a artful fish, Valenzuela had allowed the Mets an excellent chase (5 walks, seven hits) however no catch,” wrote Kaplan. “And like annoyed fishermen, the Mets had nothing to point out for his or her efforts however exasperation.”

Rematched towards the Expos, Valenzuela allowed simply three hits, however two have been solo homers; a third-inning shot by Chris Speier was not solely the primary that Valenzuela surrendered within the majors however the first time that he had fallen behind on the scoreboard all season. Pedro Guerrero’s walk-off hand-crafted him a winner nonetheless, operating his report to 8-0 with a 0.50 ERA. His string of victories had matched a feat final completed by Purple Sox right-hander Dave “Boo” Ferriss in 1945. With no Baseball-Reference Play Index in these days, writers invoking Ferriss’ title doubtless didn’t know the precocious lefty had matched the feat of an excellent greater title in baseball historical past — or that each had been far outdone:

On Might 18 (cowl jinx alert!), Valenzuela allowed 4 runs in seven innings towards the Phillies, starting a descent into the extra typical ups and downs of a 20-year-old pitcher. In fact, not each 20-year-old will get invited to the White Home between begins, as Valenzuela was by President Ronald Reagan for a state luncheon honoring Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo on June 9. Two days later, he made his last begin earlier than the start of the seven-week gamers’ strike.

The Dodgers have been 36-21 when the gamers walked out, half a recreation forward of the Reds within the NL West race. When the strike was lastly settled, the powers that be agreed that the division leaders could be topped first-half champions and would face the second-half division winners in a best-of-five sequence, with the winners advancing to the best-of-five League Championship Sequence. Thus the Dodgers’ 27-26 second-half report and third-place end behind the Astros and Reds was of little consequence, even when the Reds completed with a greater general report (66-42 to their 63-47).

Play resumed with the All-Star Sport on August 9. Valenzuela received the beginning nod and labored a scoreless inning, surrendering singles to Rod Carew (who was quickly caught stealing) and Willie Randolph, then getting George Brett and Dave Winfield to floor out.

Due to a six-start, 52-inning stretch that included simply seven runs allowed, Valenzuela completed 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA (seventh within the NL). His 25 begins, 11 full video games, 192 1/3 innings, and 180 strikeouts — in about two-thirds of a season, bear in mind — all led the league. Going through the Astros in Houston to start out the Division Sequence, Valenzuela misplaced the opener, and the Dodgers dropped Sport 2 as nicely. Again in Los Angeles, the Dodgers received Sport 3, and Valenzuela returned on three days of relaxation with a complete-game four-hitter in Sport 4; they received the sequence in 5. Towards the Expos within the NLCS, the Dodgers received Sport 1, however Valenzuela and firm misplaced Sport 2, then dropped Sport 3 as nicely. The sequence prolonged to 5 video games; snow delayed the rubber match for a day, permitting Valenzuela a uncommon fourth day of relaxation. He rose to the event, driving within the tying run within the fifth inning and holding the Expos to a few hits and one run by means of eight. Rick Monday’s solo homer off Steve Rogers gave the Dodgers the lead within the ninth, and whereas Valenzuela might report solely two outs within the backside of the body, Welch wanted only one pitch to stitch up the pennant.

In a rematch with the Yankees that featured lots of the similar stars on either side as in 1977 and ’78 — the longest-running infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Invoice Russell, and Ron Cey for the Dodgers, Ron Guidry, Graig Nettles, and Reggie Jackson for the Yankees — the Dodgers fell behind two video games to none earlier than returning to L.A. Having thrown 223 regular- and postseason innings to that time, and dealing on three days of relaxation for the eighth time that season, Valenzuela wasn’t sharp in Sport 3, however he gutted out the beginning of a lifetime, remaining calm and holding the Yankees at bay in entrance of a stadium report 56,236 followers. Cey’s three-run first-inning homer off Dave Righetti, the Yankees’ personal rookie lefty, staked Valenzuela to a 3-0 lead, however the Yankees clawed again whereas he tried to navigate site visitors. Rick Cerone’s two-run homer put New York up 4-3 within the third, prompting a mound go to from Lasorda as a substitute of Perranoski. From Jason Turbow’s e book on the 1981 Dodgers, They Bled Blue:

Valenzuela figured that he was finished for… Lasorda needed to see for himself simply what his pitcher had left. No element particularly fueled the supervisor’s determination, however one thing about Valenzuela’s demeanor satisfied him. As a substitute of yanking Fernando, Lasorda gave him a pep discuss. “For those who don’t hand over one other run,” he mentioned in Spanish, in keeping with ESPN, “we’re going to win this ballgame.”

… Valenzuela stared at his supervisor and responded in English: “Are you positive?”

Additional jams ensued, as Valenzuela allowed the subsequent two batters to achieve base earlier than putting out Righetti along with his 72nd pitch; he wouldn’t throw a clear inning till the seventh. The Dodgers took the lead on a two-run rally within the fifth towards relievers George Frazier and Rudy Might, and Valenzuela survived a scare within the eighth, getting a double play off the bat of pinch-hitter Bobby Murcer after placing the primary two males on base. Together with his pitch rely previous 130, he retired the aspect so as within the ninth, capped by a whiff of Lou Piniella on a fastball.

The victory turned the tide. After profitable Video games 4 and 5 by one run apiece, the Dodgers blew out the Yankees within the Bronx in Sport 6 to assert their first championship since 1965. As a substitute of throwing Sport 7, Valenzuela might relaxation his arm. A few weeks later, he beat out Tim Raines for NL Rookie of the 12 months honors, and edged Tom Seaver to turn out to be the primary rookie to win a Cy Younger.

The heavy workload that Valenzuela bore in 1981 didn’t break him. Quite the opposite, “El Toro” continued to excel, posting a 3.04 ERA (116 ERA+) over the subsequent 5 seasons whereas averaging 35 begins and 269 innings, and making the NL All-Star crew yearly. His 27.1 bWAR from 1981–86 ranked second solely to Dave Stieb (33.6). He went 19-13 with a 2.87 ERA (122 ERA+) in 1982, a yr the Dodgers have been eradicated from competition on the ultimate day of the season; he completed third within the Cy Younger voting that yr. Previous to the 1983 season, he turned the primary participant awarded $1 million in arbitration. Regardless of posting a 3.75 ERA (96 ERA+) that season, he helped the Dodgers win the NL West, then delivered an eight-inning one-run efficiency for what turned out to be their lone NLCS victory towards the Phillies. He went 12-17 regardless of a 3.03 ERA (116 ERA+) and 240 strikeouts in 1984; that season’s spotlight might have been his putting out Winfield, Jackson, and Brett — all future Corridor of Famers — within the fourth inning of the All-Star Sport.

Valenzuela rebounded in 1985, going 17-10 with 208 strikeouts and a 2.45 ERA (141 ERA+) for the division-winning Dodgers. He pitched nicely in two NLCS begins towards the Cardinals, however after leaving a 2-2 tie within the eighth inning of Sport 5, he might solely watch Ozzie Smith hit a walk-off homer off nearer Tom Niedenfuer, the switch-hitting shortstop’s first ever whereas batting left-handed. In February 1986, simply forward of one other arbitration listening to, he signed a three-year, $5.5 million contract, making him the highest-paid pitcher to that time, and the primary to high $2 million in single-season wage (for 1988).

The 1986 season turned out to be Valenzuela’s final nice one. He went 21-11, reaching the 20-win plateau for the one time whereas throwing a league-high 20 compete video games, putting out a career-high 242 hitters, and posting a 3.14 ERA (110 ERA+). Once more he shined within the All-Star Sport, this time starting a stint of three scoreless innings by putting out Don Mattingly, Cal Ripken Jr., Jesse Barfield, Lou Whitaker, and Teddy Higuera. He was the runner-up to Mike Scott within the NL Cy Younger voting, and took dwelling his solely Gold Glove.

The innings started taking their toll in 1987, when Valenzuela allowed league-high totals of hits and walks whereas going 14-14 with a 3.98 ERA (101 ERA+); his first win, a powerful seven-inning effort towards the Giants on April 12, was the a centesimal of his profession. Battling management points, he struggled to a 4.24 ERA in 1988, happening the disabled record in early August for the primary time as a consequence of a stretched anterior capsule, breaking a streak of 255 consecutive begins. Although he returned briefly in September, he was a bystander in the course of the Dodgers’ unlikely championship run, as Orel Hershiser led the way in which with a record-setting scoreless innings streak and a postseason run for the ages.

Valenzuela spent two extra years with the Dodgers, one league common, the opposite alternative stage, however not with no profession spotlight. On June 29, 1990, he watched former teammate Dave Stewart full a no-hitter for the A’s towards the Blue Jays. As Mike Scioscia recalled in 2017, simply earlier than going out to heat up for his begin towards the Cardinals, “Fernando pokes his head in [to the bullpen]… and says, ‘Hey, you noticed one on TV, now you’re going to see one in particular person.’ And he walks out of the bullpen, and throws a no-hitter.”

“When you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky!” broadcaster Vin Scully exclaimed after Valenzuela sealed the sport by deflecting a Pedro Guerrero comebacker proper to completely positioned second baseman Juan Samuel, who started a game-ending double play.

Whereas Valenzuela admitted that he had solely been kidding about his prediction, the day stays the one one in main league historical past to function a number of no-hitters.

The Dodgers made the painful determination to chop Valenzuela unfastened close to the tip of a tough spring coaching in 1991. The late-March timing precipitated a rift. Had the Dodgers waited one other week, they might have owed everything of his arbitration-determined $2.55 million wage; by releasing him after they did, they solely needed to pay him one-quarter of that quantity. “It’s very powerful to swallow… There’s little doubt he can nonetheless pitch. I don’t perceive it,” mentioned Scioscia. Valenzuela, agent Dick Moss, and MLBPA counsel Gene Orza quickly filed an unsuccessful grievance asserting that the discharge was financially motivated. Lasorda took the crew’s aspect, asserting his perception that the choice was performance-based, and that the pitcher’s main league profession was over. The damage would linger for over a decade.

Valenzuela signed a minor league take care of the Angels, however was rocked in two begins earlier than being sidelined by a uncommon situation that restricted the blood move close to his coronary heart. Treatment helped alleviate the issue, however he completed the season within the minors, with uninspiring outcomes. He went to spring coaching with the Tigers in 1992, however didn’t make the crew. In June, his contract was bought to the Jalisco Charros of the Mexican League; after opening 0-5, he completed 10-9 with a 3.86 ERA. He returned to the majors with the Orioles in 1993, going 8-10 with a 4.94 ERA (91 ERA+), and after one other stint with Jalisco made eight appearances for the Phillies in ’94. His lone win within the strike-shortened season, an eight-inning, three-run begin towards the Dodgers in Philadelphia on July 17, was the one hundred and fiftieth of his profession.

After the lockout led to April 1995, Valenzuela signed with the Padres. Whereas he wasn’t excellent that yr, he loved a renaissance in 1996, going 13-8 with a 3.62 ERA (110 ERA+) — by far his finest post-Dodgers season — and helped beat out his previous crew for the NL West title. On August 28, 1996, he notched his 2,000th profession strikeout by fanning the Mets’ Edgardo Alfonzo.

Valenzuela couldn’t muster the identical magic in 1997. After going 2-8 with a 4.75 ERA for the Padres, he was traded to the Cardinals as a part of a six-player deal on June 13. He went 0-4 in 5 begins earlier than being launched on July 15. At 36 years previous, his main league profession was finished.

Not fairly prepared to hold up his spikes, Valenzuela spent winters pitching within the Mexican Pacific League, doing nicely sufficient that in January 1999, the Dodgers invited him to spring coaching to audition for a reduction position. The Padres expressed curiosity as nicely, however he declined to pursue both alternative, nonetheless embittered concerning the finish of his tenure in Los Angeles. He continued to offer innings for the Aguilas de Mexicali membership as late because the 2007-08 season, when he was 46.

At Mexicali in the course of the winter of 2006–07, Valenzuela was joined by son Fernando Valenzuela Jr. (b. 1982), a former Tenth-round select of UNLV who spent 4 years within the affiliated minors with the Padres and White Sox, climbing as excessive as Double-A. The youthful Valenzuela continued to play in unbiased leagues, the Mexican League, and the Mexican Pacific League till the 2016–17 season. In February 2017, the elder Valenzuela purchased into the Mexican League’s Quintana Roo Tigres. Fernando Jr. turned crew president, whereas one other son, Ricky, served as GM.

Valenzuela saved his distance from the Dodgers till June 2003, when he rejoined the group to do coloration commentary for Spanish-language radio broadcasts alongside Jarrín and Pepe Yñiguez. “We’ve been making an attempt to get him again to the group for therefore lengthy,” mentioned vp for communications Derrick Corridor. He credited crew chairman/CEO Bob Daly, “who on his first day right here mentioned, ‘Get Fernando. Get Fernando.’”

As a result of the soft-spoken Valenzuela was considerably uncomfortable with criticizing gamers, Jarrín hit on a technique of interviewing him all through the sport, inviting him to supply his personal perspective. In 2015, Valenzuela joined Yñiguez and former teammate Manny Mota for Spanish tv broadcasts on SportsNet; later Jarrín and José Mota (Manny’s son) would work alongside him in that capability.

Valenzuela served on the teaching workers of Crew Mexico for the 2006, ’09, ’13, and ’17 World Baseball Classics. In 2014, he was elected to the Mexican Skilled Baseball Corridor of Fame. In 2019, the Mexican League retired his jersey no. 34 leaguewide.

First eligible for election to the Corridor of Fame in 2003, Valenzuela acquired simply 6.2% on the BBWAA poll, then fell off after slipping to three.8% in ’04. Primarily based on his statistics, together with 41.5 profession WAR and 36.6 S-JAWS (172nd all-time), it was the correct name. Whereas there’s a case to be made when contemplating his position as a broadcaster and ambassador, Period Committee voters have proven little inclination to acknowledge such hybrid candidacies, most notably bypassing pitcher-turned-outfielder Lefty O’Doul, who received batting titles in 1929 and ’32 earlier than his pioneering work spreading baseball to Japan earlier than and after World Conflict II.

As I informed Sherman for Dawn, Valenzuela’s accomplishments and meritorious service could also be a greater match for the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, which is “offered by the Corridor of Fame’s Board of Administrators no more than as soon as each three years to honor a person whose extraordinary efforts enhanced baseball’s optimistic influence on society, broadened the sport’s enchantment, and whose character, integrity and dignity are corresponding to the qualities exhibited by O’Neil.”

Few figures in baseball historical past have checked these packing containers within the method of Valenzuela. With typical humility, he dodged the tag of “hero,” however past his appreciable on-field accomplishments, his influence in increasing baseball’s attain, and in serving as “a beacon of hope, inspiration and satisfaction” for Mexicans, Mexican Individuals, and different Latinos, is plain.

Editor’s Observe, 2:45 p.m. ET: This story has been up to date to offer extra context concerning the eviction of Mexican Individuals from the Chavez Ravine barrio, a course of that started previous to the development of Dodger Stadium as a part of a Metropolis of Los Angeles public housing program that in the end did not materialize.