By: JOSEPH SIMILE / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Fernando Valenzuela, one of baseball’s most legendary fairytale players, has passed away at the age of 63. The Dodgers announced that Valenzuela passed on Tuesday night but did not disclose the cause of death or any additional details.
Valenzuela’s baseball career began in 1977 he signed with the Mayos de Navojoa of the Mexican Pacific League as a teenager. The following year, he was sent to the Guanajuato Tuzos of the Mexican Central League, where he sported a 2.23 ERA en route to a 5-6 record. The Mexican Central League was absorbed into the expanded Mexican League and Valenzuela was promoted to pitch for the Leones de Yucatán. That year, Valenzuela went 10-12 with a 2.49 ERA, tallying 141 strikeouts.
During that stint, many Major League teams scouted Valenzuela. Los Angeles Dodgers scout Mike Brito had gone to Mexico to scout a shortstop named Ali Uscanga in the Carta Clara park. Valenzuela was on the mound against Uscanga and Uscanga had worked a 3-0 count before Valenzuela threw him three straight strikes for the strikeout. Brito would later say he “forgot all about the shortstop.”
The Dodgers bought out Valenzuela’s Liga contract on July 6, 1979 for $120,000. Valenzuela started out in High-A ball, finishing his season with a 1.13 ERA. During the following offseason, the Dodgers famously wanted Valenzuela to learn an off-speed pitch so they had Los Angeles native Bobby Castillo, a young reliever on the Dodgers big league squad, teach Valenzuela what became his signature screwball.
Valenzuela started 1980 off in Double-A, where he led the Texas League with 162 strikeouts. That figure, paired with his 3.10 ERA and 13-9 record, was enough for the Dodgers to call up Valenzuela in September to help bolster their bullpen for their playoff push.
Valenzuela made his big league debut on September 15, 1980. He pitched the 6th and 7th innings in a 9-0 loss against the Atlanta Braves, giving up a hit, two unearned runs and striking out one. He would pitch again three days later, throwing three innings and striking out four, not allowing any runs and only giving up two hits.
Valenzuela would continue this unearned run streak, not surrendering a single earned run in his 17.2 big league innings that season. The Dodgers ultimately fell short of the playoffs, losing a game 163 tiebreaker to Houston (in which Valenzuela pitched two scoreless innings).
In 1981, Fernando Valenzuela truly made a name for himself. After Jerry Reuss was injured a day before opening day, Tommy Lasorda trusted the rookie Valenzuela with the ball on opening day. “El Toro” dazzled the Astros lineup, tossing a complete game, five hit shutout to start what would be known as Fernandomania.
The shorter statured Mexican import with a devastating screwball and a high leg kick quickly became a fan favorite and overnight sensation. Valenzuela followed up his opening day performance with another complete game, surrendering one run on four hits and tallying up 10 strikeouts. Valenzuela followed up his second game by tossing three consecutive complete game shutouts, racking up 28 strikeouts across the three starts.
In his sixth start, Valenzuela gave up his first run in almost a month, the only run of that start against the Montreal Expos to go along with seven strikeouts in his nine innings. He would shut out the Mets with 11 strikeouts in his next start. Fernandomania came to a close in his eighth start of the season, once again a complete game shutout.
During his first eight starts of his rookie campaign, Valenzuela tossed 72 innings, surrendering just four runs on 43 hits, striking out 68, to the tune of a 0.50 ERA. Latino fans flocked to see Fernandomania both at home and on the road. ABBA’s hit “Fernando” would blast through Dodger Stadium speakers during Valenzuela’s warmups.
“His charisma was unbelievable,” Hall of Fame Dodgers Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrin said of Valenzuela in 2023.
Valenzuela led the league with 25 starts, 11 complete games, eight shutouts, 192 innings and 180 strikeouts in the strike-shortened 1981 season. He collected the first of his six All Star nods, as well as the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the National League. His .250 batting average also earned him the Silver Slugger award, the first Dodger to win the award as a pitcher.
Valenzuela became the youngest pitcher to start the first game of any postseason series in the playoffs that season. The Dodgers went on to win the world series that year, with Valenzuela pitching a complete game against the Yankees in Game 3. The four runs he surrendered that day makes it likely his worst postseason game, as he had a career 1.98 ERA in the playoffs.
Valenzuela made the All Star game in each of the next five seasons, including a league leading 21 win season in 1986 that saw Valenzuela throw an MLB leading 20 complete games. He also took home a Gold Glove that season.
From Valenzuela’s 1980 debut as a 19 year old through the 1986 season that saw him reach the age of 25, Valenzuela pitched in 210 games, starting the last 200 of which, with a 2.94 ERA, 84 complete games, 26 shutouts and 1,274 strikeouts in 1,554 innings.
Valenzuela would once again make baseball history prior to the 1983 season, becoming the first player to be awarded a $1 million salary in arbitration. Lasorda once famously said of Valenzuela, “All last year we tried to teach him English and the only word he learned was million.”
Following 1986, Valenzuela would have an up-and-down career. His last season with the Dodgers came in 1990, in which he had his last great signature moment as he tossed a no-hitter against the Cardinals on June 29 of that year, striking out seven.
Valenzuela made stops for the California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals. Valenzuela did not play in the big leagues in 1992, he instead played in Mexico, both pitching and playing first base.
Valenzuela retired in 1997 with a career record of 173-153, a career 3.54 ERA and 2,074 strikeouts in 2,930 innings. In his big league career, Valenzuela made appearances at 1st base, left field and right field and was used as a pinch hitter 19 times, hitting .368 in such appearances.
Valenzuela took on a new role as the Dodgers’ Spanish-language radio color commentator in 2003, holding the position before taking the same position for SportsNet LA. Valenzuela also served on the coaching staff of Team Mexico in the 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics.
Valenzuela is one of two Dodgers to have their numbers retired by the team despite not being in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His number 34 was retired in a ceremony on August 11, 2023. He finished his career with the sixth most strikeouts in Dodgers franchise history.
Valenzuela was one of baseball’s most exciting players. He was the basis of a storybook phenomenon that is still talked about by fans to this day. He will be remembered as one of the greatest draws to the game the sport has ever seen. He is the all time leader in WAR (41.5) for Mexican-born players. Valenzuela was a fantastic ambassador for the game of baseball and he will be sincerely missed by fans everywhere.
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