Sports Fernando Valenzuela, the Mexican-born phenom for the Los Angeles Dodgers who impressed “Fernandomania” while a hit the NL Cy Younger Award and Rookie of the Year in 1981, has died. He was 63.
The crew acknowledged he died Tuesday night at a Los Angeles hospital, however did now not present the reason or completely different particulars.
His loss of life comes because the Dodgers prepare to initiating the World Sequence on Friday night at house against the Recent York Yankees.
Valenzuela had left his coloration commentator job on the Dodgers’ Spanish-language television broadcast in September with out clarification. He was reported to were hospitalized earlier this month. His job kept him as an everyday at Dodger Stadium, the set apart he held court in the clicking field eating room earlier than games and remained current by followers who sought him out for photography and autographs.
“God bless Fernando Valenzuela!” actor and Dodgers fan Danny Trejo posted on X.
Valenzuela was one amongst the most dominant avid gamers of his generation and a wildly current figure in the Eighties, although he was never elected to the Baseball Corridor of Fame. Nonetheless, he is a component of Cooperstown, which aspects a whole lot of artifacts collectively with a signed ball from his no-hitter in 1990.
“He’s one amongst the most influential Dodgers ever and belongs on the Mount Rushmore of franchise heroes,” Stan Kasten, crew president and CEO, acknowledged in an announcement. “He galvanized the fan tainted with the Fernandomania season of 1981 and has remained shut to our hearts ever since, now not finest as a participant however also as a broadcaster. He has left us all too soon.”
Valenzuela’s rise from humble beginnings because the youngest of 12 kids in Mexico and his feats on the mound made him vastly current and influential in Los Angeles’ Latino community while serving to entice fresh followers to Predominant League Baseball. Their fondness for him persevered for years after his retirement.
Fernando Valenzuela was wildly current by Dodgers followers after bursting on the scene as a rookie in 1981. (Photo by Vince Streano/CORBIS/Corbis through Getty Photos)
“63 is methodology too young…. A part of my childhood is long past,” actor and “Rep entry to Hollywood” co-host Mario Lopez posted on X. “Rising up as a Mexican youngster one amongst the first causes I’m a Dodgers fan is on story of Fernando. … Not finest a mountainous participant, however a mountainous man to the community. What a narrative.”
Eva Torres, on the initiating from Mexico City, drove from Anaheim to discover at murals of Valenzuela on Sunset Boulevard shut to Dodgers Stadium.
“I wasn’t keen on baseball however I am keen on his,” she acknowledged. “He’s like me, an immigrant that came here to realize mountainous things.”
In 1981, Valenzuela grew to alter into the Dodgers’ opening day starter as a rookie after Jerry Reuss was injured 24 hours earlier than his scheduled initiating. He shut out the Houston Astros 2-0 and started the season 8-0 with five shutouts and an ERA of 0.50. He grew to alter into the first participant to construct up a Cy Younger and Rookie of the Year in the identical season.
His performances created the delirium recognized as “Fernandomania” amongst Dodgers followers. The ABBA hit “Fernando” would play as he warmed up on the mound.
“Fernando Valenzuela was a precise icon of the Dodgers and the sport,” Accumulate. Jimmy Gomez , D-Calif., posted on X. “His legacy and connection with the Latino community in LA is one amongst the causes I fell in worship with the Dodgers.”
Valenzuela was 13-7 and had a 2.48 ERA in his first season, which was shortened by a avid gamers’ strike.
He was an All-Star need yearly from 1981-86, when he recorded 97 victories, 84 whole games, 1,258 strikeouts and a 2.97 ERA. He was 5-1 with a 2.00 ERA in eight postseason begins. He earned two Silver Slugger Awards and a Gold Glove.
Valenzuela’s no-hitter on June 29, 1990, a 6-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium, was an emotional profession spotlight. He struck out seven and walked three.
“In case you beget a sombrero, throw it to the sky!” Corridor of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully exclaimed in his game name.
Nicknamed “El Toro” by the followers, Valenzuela had an unorthodox and worthy pitching traipse that integrated attempting skyward on the apex of every windup. His repertoire integrated a screwball — making him one amongst the few pitchers of his generation who threw that pitch usually. It was taught to him by teammate Bobby Castillo after the Dodgers felt Valenzuela, who wasn’t recognized as a laborious thrower, compulsory but any other pitch.
Early in his Dodgers profession, Valenzuela spoke little English and had anguish talking alongside with his catchers. Rookie Mike Scioscia realized Spanish and grew to alter into Valenzuela’s inner most catcher earlier than changing into the crew’s paunchy-time catcher.
Valenzuela was a bigger-than-common hitter, with 10 profession house runs.
Fernando Valenzuela was a bigger hitter than most pitchers are, clubbing 10 house runs and batting .200 for his profession. (Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Los Angeles Cases)
Ultimately, his pitching was compromised by nagging shoulder complications that kept him out of the 1988 postseason, when the Dodgers received the World Sequence.
The crew released Valenzuela factual earlier than the 1991 season. He also pitched for the worn California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals.
He retired in 1997, going 173-153 with a 3.54 ERA in 17 seasons, the all-time most important league leader in wins and strikeouts (2,074) by a Mexican-born participant. In 11 seasons with the Dodgers, he was 141-116 with a 3.31 ERA.
Valenzuela’s rise from his tiny hometown of Etchohuaquila in the Mexican dispute of Sonora to stardom in the U.S. was unbelievable. He was the youngest youngster in a gigantic household who tagged alongside when his older brothers done baseball.
He signed his first reliable contract at age 16, and quickly began overpowering older avid gamers in the Mexican Central League.
In 1978, legendary Dodgers scout Mike Brito was in Mexico to glimpse a shortstop when Valenzuela entered the sport as a reliever. He straight away commanded Brito’s consideration and at age 18, Valenzuela signed with the Dodgers in 1979. He was despatched to the California League that same year.
In 1980, Valenzuela was known as as a lot as the Dodgers in September and quickly made his huge league debut as a reliever.
He stays the finest pitcher in MLB historical past to construct up the Cy Younger and Rookie of the Year awards in the identical season. The left-hander was the National League’s initiating pitcher in the All-Star Sport in 1981, the identical year the Dodgers received the World Sequence.
All the contrivance thru his profession, he made the quilt of Sports Illustrated and visited the White Dwelling.
In 2003, Valenzuela returned to the Dodgers because the Spanish-language radio coloration commentator for NL games. Twelve years later, he switched to the coloration commentator job on the crew’s Spanish-language TV feed.
“He repeatedly supported the growth of the sport thru the World Baseball Classic and at MLB events across his house nation,” Manfred acknowledged in an announcement. “As a member of the Dodger broadcasting crew for greater than two decades, Fernando helped to realize a fresh technology of followers and domesticate their worship of the sport. Fernando will repeatedly remain a loved figure in Dodger historical past and a particular source of enjoyment for the millions of Latino followers he impressed.”
He was inducted into the Mexican Legit Baseball Corridor of Fame in 2014. Five years later, the Mexican League retired Valenzuela’s No. 34 jersey. The Dodgers adopted in 2023 after maintaining his amount out of circulation since he closing pitched for the crew in 1991. The crew has a rule that requires a participant to be in the Baseball Corridor of Fame earlier than having the Dodgers retire his amount, however they made an exception for Valenzuela.
The Dodgers named Valenzuela as a part of the “Legends of Dodger Baseball” in 2019 and inducted him into the crew’s Ring of Honor in 2023.
He grew to alter into a U.S. citizen in 2015.
Valenzuela served on the coaching group for Mexico at some stage in the World Baseball Classic in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017. He was a part-proprietor of the Mexican League crew Tigres de Quintana Roo, with son Fernando Jr. serving as crew president and son Ricky serving as usual supervisor. Fernando Jr. done in the San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox organizations as a most important baseman.
Besides to his sons, he is survived by his companion, Linda, who was a schoolteacher from Mexico whom he married in 1981, and daughters Linda and Maria as well as seven grandchildren.
Reporting by The Linked Press.
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