In was opening day 1981 when a 20-year-old pitcher from Sonora, Mexico, took the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers and hurled a victorious nine-inning shutout against the Houston Astros. Fernando Valenzuela went on to win his first eight games, In that season he would become the only major leaguer to win both the Cy Young award and the Rookie of the Year award in the same season.
Valenuela had a long career as a major league pitcher, lasting until 1997. His first ten years were as a Dodger. During his career he would be an all-star six times and a World Series champion in his rookie year. An all-around athlete, he won a Gold Glove award as the American League’s best fielding pitcher and two Silver Slugger Awards as the league’s best hitting pitcher. In 1990 he pitched a no-hitter.
But Fernando Valenzuela’s greatest impact on the game may have had nothing to do wins, losses, pitches and awards. Rather, he changed the game because of the so-called “Fernandomania” that followed his emergence as a star.
“…the Dodgers lefty did something that went beyond the playing field, and you could see it in the stands and across the United States and Mexico.
“When Fernando lifted his eyes toward the sky with each windup, Mexicans everywhere watched him with pride.
“This was the first time I could see with my own eyes the passion Mexicans had for baseball as they cheered for Valenzuela at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, New York’s Shea Stadium and even in Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium.
“Their presence transformed big league parks, waving Mexican flags, cheering on the young lefty who possessed a pitching style quite unlike what most fans had previously witnessed.
“While most fans might remember 1981 as a strike-shortened season, for me it will remain the season Valenzuela allowed Mexicans and Latino fans everywhere to openly show their passion for baseball through the artistry of the young hurler from Navojoa, México.” (La Vida Baseball, Adrian Burgos, March 2, 2019)
A story in the Los Angeles Times (April 1, 2011) tried to quantify Fernando’s long term impact:
“The Dodgers, who said they drew more than 3.5 million fans last season, have survey research that indicates about 40 percent of their fan base is Latino.
“Although there is no way to directly quantify Valenzuela’s effect, former team executive Derrick Hall guessed that attendance at Dodger Stadium would be 10 percent to 20 percent lower had Valenzuela never played.”
Where is Valenzuela these days? If you’re a Dodgers fan, you know where to find him. In the broadcast booth calling the games in Spanish. He’s also no stranger to the playing field. In 2013, he was the starting pitcher in an old-timers game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. That same year, he threw out the first pitch in the Caribbean Series game between Yaquis de Obregon of Mexico and Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Republic. In 2018, he threw out the first pitch when the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres played a three-game series in Monterrey, Mexico.
Honors have continued to come his way in his post-playing career. He was inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013. One year later he entered the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame. California Gov. Jerry Brown inducted him into the Golden State Hall of Fame along with others, including Joan Baez and Robert Redford (2018). The Mexican League retired his #34 for all teams (2019). The Dodgers honored him as one of the “Legends of Dodger Baseball” in 2019 and they retired his number in 2023. At the same time, the Los Angeles City Council proclaimed Fernando Valenzuela Day.
In 2015 he became a citizen of the U.S. Dodger Insider (July 22, 2015) had the story.
“The Dodgers’ legendary lefty raised his right hand and took the Oath of Allegiance at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) naturalization ceremony to become a U.S. citizen this morning in downtown Los Angeles. While a private and smaller ceremony could have been an option, Valenzuela chose to join nearly 8,000 Angelenos hailing from more than 130 countries in taking this big step.
“Valenzuela also shared this special day with his wife Linda, who became a U.S. citizen a few months ago and with whom he’s shared every major moment of his life and career, and his family.”
In 2017 Valenzuela was part of a group of investors who bought the Mexican League baseball team Quintana Roo Tigres of Cancun. His son Ricky serves as the team’s general manager.
Despite his popularity and his visibility, Valenzuela is not one to call attention to himself. Jill Painter Lopez, writing in the New York Times (Aug. 30, 2015), commented:
“Although he works as a Spanish-language broadcaster for Dodgers games, he rarely does interviews and, outside calling games, keeps a low media profile. He doesn’t have a Twitter account, he hasn’t written an autobiography and he declined to take part in a news conference about his new status (as an American citizen) or to do any interviews, including one for this article.”
Asked about being a hero to Dodger fans, Valenzuela told Cary Osborne of Dodger Insider (Aug. 11, 2023):
“Heroes are in cartoons or something like that.
“I think the ones who are heroes are people who rescue people. That’s a hero. If the little things I did in baseball helped people, if it helped them by never giving up, keep continuing, helped them think you can do anything, that makes me proud.”
A story by Dylan Hernandez in the Los Angeles Times (April 1, 2011) noted:
“As a player, Valenzuela spoke regularly at Los Angeles-area elementary schools, many of them in heavily Latino areas. ‘In sports, you win and you lose,’ he recalled telling the children. ‘But in education, you only win.’ On a couple of occasions, he said, he has been approached by someone who heard him speak. ‘Because of what you said, I studied hard and became a doctor,’ he recalled one person telling him.
“Another, he said, was a lawyer. ‘I told them I was glad they listened, that they were able to improve their lives, that they were able to take better care of their families,’ he said. ‘That means more to me than winning a game or being elected into the Hall of Fame.’
Valenzuela married a schoolteacher from Mexico, Linda Bustos, in 1981. They have four children. In Osborne’s Dodger Insider story he quoted Valenzuela’s daughter Linda:
“He’s a dad and a grandpa — and I think he feels that’s his biggest accomplishment. He’s proud of his kids and grandkids. He shows up to my niece’s softball games at 7 in the morning. She has a game, and he’s there.”
In the stories about Venezuela there are some first hand accounts of his importance to young Mexican-Americans. Here are two examples:
In the New York Times story by Jill Painter Lopez cited earlier, a Dodger employee had this to say;
“Polo Ascencio, 40, who works for the Dodgers as a statistician…grew up in Tijuana and four years ago became an American citizen.
“‘I grew up idolizing this guy,’ Ascencio said. ‘I wanted to be a left-handed pitcher. I was that kid who was a Padres fan but turned into a Dodgers fan’ because of Valenzuela.
“‘I looked just like him,’ he said.”
Jose M Alamillo, who is a professor of Chicanao Studies at California State University Channel Islands, had this to say ( La Vida Baseball, April 19, 2017)
“Even before I learned about César Chávez and other civil rights leaders, I had one
Latino role model ― Fernando Valenzuela.
“As a skinny immigrant kid back in the ’70s growing up in Ventura, California, north of Los Angeles, I did not speak English very well and was told to ‘Go back to Mexico.’ To avoid being hit by racial slurs (‘beaner,’ ‘wetback’), I downplayed my ethnic background.
“But that all changed in 1981.
“Valenzuela inspired the Latino population of Los Angeles. His humble demeanor, combined with his improbable success as an unassuming son of Sonora, helped to instill a feeling of unity and optimism among recent Mexican immigrants and U.S.-born Mexican-Americans.
“Fernando Valenzuela taught me to feel proud about being both Mexican and American without having to sell my cultural soul. When I met Fernando, he spoke perfect English but was very proud of his Mexican heritage. He confirmed for me that I did not have to run from my Mexican heritage, but embrace it, while also embracing American culture and, especially, its favorite pastime.”
(Fernando Valenzuela passed away in Octoer 2024, a little more than a month after this was published.)
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Whatever Happened To?
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Great story. I remember the “Fernandomania.”
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I particularly appreciate you including in this piece Fernando Valenzuela’s definition of a hero (and how he doesn’t see himself, or any ballplayer, as one) and how he talks to school children and emphasizes education.
Raised in Etchohuaquila, a Mexican hamlet with about 150 residents, most of them communal farmers, Valenzuela was the youngest of 12 children. He grew up playing baseball on the town’s dusty sandlots and at 14 was striking out men in an amateur league. After a year of high school, he dropped out and went to pitch for a professional team. He’s come a long way since then.
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He definitely is a great guy.
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Awesome piece! You did an impressive amount of research. Although I still have to say…Seaver should have won the Cy Young in ‘81. Then again that tells you how huge “Fernandomania” was that year!
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