“How would you explain to someone who doesn’t know baseball what Fernandomania is?” The question Fernando Valenzuela asks. The look reminds us of the famous gesture he made on the mound at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in the ’80s to gain momentum. This afternoon, Valenzuela (Sonora, Mexico, 1960) is not on the mound but in the seats of one of the oldest baseball temples in the United States. “I would say it is the beginning of my career, it is the result of all the people who followed my games,” says Valenzuela modestly. Vin Scully, the Los Angeles team’s historic announcer, was more expressive. He described it at the time as “a religious experience.”
This summer has brought back those days of euphoria. A month ago, the Dodgers retired number 34, which Valenzuela made famous thanks to his left arm. Almost all fans admitted that the gesture of recognition was a long time coming. To be precise, it took 32 years for him to stop wearing the uniform. The delay was due in part to the sport’s purism, which believes that this honor is only available to players inducted into the Cooperstown Hall of Fame. Valenzuela doesn’t make it despite becoming the first rookie in history to win the Cy Young Trophy, being an All-Star six years in a row and leaving the club as the eighth pitcher with the most wins.
“You could see it coming,” says Valenzuela, a man known for his few words and extreme envy of his privacy. “Nobody has used the 34 since then, for me it is important that the time has come. “I am very happy,” he adds. The news finally makes him happy because he was a nervous wreck on the day of the event. “I prefer it when the bases are full and there are no outs,” he told reporters, sparking laughter.
The pitcher poses with his No. 34 jersey hanging next to those of Pee Don Drysdale (No. 53), Wee Reese (No. 1) and Gil Hodges (No. 14). Zaydee Sanchez
Valenzuela has avoided the spotlight for decades. In July 2021, when the team celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1981 title, he was the last from this legendary team to arrive at the stadium. He dedicated his morning to another of his great passions: golf. He played 18 holes and, upon completion, headed to Chavez Canyon. Fernando is now a Spanish commentator for broadcasts of Dodger games in Spanish. He only takes notes between the first and seventh innings, allowing him to leave the stadium without having to stop every 50 feet to take a photo or sign an autograph for fans.
The youngest of 12 children from a modest family from Navojoa, Sonora, Valenzuela received just 6% of the 75% of votes needed for induction into the Hall of Fame in his first year of election in 2003. A year later, he received only 19 endorsements, eliminating the possibility that he would become the first Mexican to be included in the selected group. Whether Fernando should be there or not is the subject of endless debate for fans. But the pitcher is content with his absence in Cooperstown. “The most important thing to me is the love of the people, the support of all Hispanics, not only here in the Los Angeles area but also outside,” he emphasizes.
Fernando Valenzuela receives flowers from a fanatical child during a clinic in Los Angeles in 1981.RR (AP)
In his book Daybreak at Chavez Ravine, baseball historian Erik Sherman notes that Valenzuela’s legacy extends beyond the sport. “…he was once a healer, much like today, when many Americans perceive Mexicans as second-class citizens. It means to Latinos what Jackie Robinson was to blacks,” the author writes. The pitcher’s humble character makes no claim to such a role in history, but when he speaks of the Temple of the Dodgers, a building just two years younger than Valenzuela, he speaks of how his audience has changed. “When I started, there were between 6 and 8 percent Hispanic participants. At the moment we already have 50%. Everywhere you go you hear Spanish,” he says.
The Dodgers will celebrate Guatemalan heritage on September 20th. A few weeks ago, before the game against Arizona, the El Salvador anthem was played and flags decorated the park. Mexicans celebrate in August. All of this would have been impossible if 18-year-old Valenzuela hadn’t caught the attention of legendary recruit Mike Brito. The signing was completed in 1979 and it was necessary for Valenzuela’s arm, who came from Yucatán, to cut his teeth in the minors. The moment was boiling in 1981. Latinos came out en masse to see someone like them succeed in the middle of the diamond. It marked the end of the bitterness between Mexican Americans and the Los Angeles team, which in 1959 saw the city expel dozens of Mexican families from the land where the stadium now stands. This meant that the Latinos turned their backs on the team for decades. Until Fernandomania came.
Fernando Valenzuela, on September 14, 2023. Zaydee Sanchez
“When you’re in the field, it’s difficult to capture everything that’s happening around you. There are people who tell me about some games that I don’t really remember, which tells me there were people involved,” Valenzuela says. Among the dates he remembers clearly is October 23, 1981. He then appeared as a starting pitcher in the World Series, where his team faced the New York Yankees. The East had won the first two games of the series at home. Just a few months after his debut, Valenzuela pitched in his first final. With the help of another rookie, Dave Righetti, and the hitting power of Pedro Guerrero, the Dodgers won 5-4 in a game in front of 56,000 spectators. Five days later, the team won its first title in 16 years after losing four World Series between 1966 and 1978.
“Can you imagine that?” asks Valenzuela, raising his eyebrows and showing his big white teeth. “It’s my first year and I went to the World Series, against the Yankees!, played and won. There is no other, it is the best,” he assures. Another great night of the decade when he wore the blue and white was June 29, 1990. He pitched the only game without a hit or run in his entire United States career. It took him 119 pitches, but he was able to shut out the St. Louis Cardinals. That same day in Toronto, Oakland Athletics pitcher Dave Stewart did the same against the Blue Jays. It was the first time since 1898 that there were two such games in one evening.
The Dodgers got rid of Fernando in 1991 in an almost dishonorable gesture. “All racing must come to an end,” said Peter O’Malley, the team’s owner at the time. Valenzuela was signed by the California Angels, the team from the city of Anaheim that wanted to bring more people to the stadium. To test the left-hander’s level, they asked him to play with the minor league affiliate in Palm Springs. When Valenzuela showed up, nearly 5,000 people were waiting for him. Something unheard of for the angels. “It was a problem getting there, but that’s exactly what happened. Because of my style of play, I had to be more active and had to take minors to prepare back then,” he says.
Valenzuela plays as a guest against the San Francisco Giants on October 3, 1982. Anonymous (AP)
Vincent Nava was the first Hispanic player in the Major Leagues. He came to baseball in 1882, although the player identified more as Spanish. Dozens of Latinos played ball in the 1940s. Fernando Valenzuela is far from the first Mexican in the sport, but his legacy is among the most influential.
Today it is the players from the Dominican Republic who dominate the presence in the major leagues with 90 players. They are followed by Venezuela with 53 and Cuba with 20. Mexico contributes only eight players and is a distant fifth than its predecessor Puerto Rico with 19 players. Why have so few followed in Valenzuela’s footsteps? “You have to belong to a team, which is why many people don’t leave as free agents. This makes things a bit difficult for the Mexican player. It’s not like other countries where teams approach the player directly to offer him money. But out of ten, two stand out. There is talent in Mexico and recently the Mexican player is at the level of the big leagues,” says Valenzuela.
One of those great Mexican talents in the majors is currently in his worst moments. Pitcher Julio Urías, originally from Sinaloa, was called upon to fill Valenzuela’s shoes on the Los Angeles team, but an episode of domestic violence brings his career to the brink. This week his number 7 couldn’t be found in stadium stores. His image was removed during Hispanic Heritage Month, which began this Friday. “He is no longer on the team this year,” said Valenzuela, who has had no scandals during his time as a public figure and has been married to the same woman for 40 years. “I believe that the outcome of their hearing needs to be taken into account,” he added. Urías will go to trial on September 27th. At the moment, Valenzuela’s greatness is unattainable.
The hands of pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, #34 of the Dodgers.Zaydee Sanchez
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