Dusty Baker remembered the video games. No longer those that Fernando Valenzuela would bend to his will like his signature screwball, however the moments in between. The precocious left-hander’s abilities went past the long-lasting windup he taught himself on mounds in a mini Mexican the city named Etchohuaquila. Valenzuela may collision so smartly that he remained parked at the bench at Dodger Stadium even on nights when he didn’t tone. He may ground his place so smartly that he’d win a Gold Glove.
However Baker marveled at some other athletic feat: Valenzuela knocking a hacky sack into the wind, his sights floating to the sky simply as they’d when he delivered a tone.
“That was the first time I had really seen anybody that good at it,” Baker recalled by means of telephone on Tuesday night time.
Baker was once 31 when Valenzuela, nonetheless simply 19 years timeless, made his Dodgers debut in 1980. As a working gag, the pitcher would faucet Baker at the shoulder to get him to seem the improper means and later laugh with childlike vigor when it labored.
“Fernando was a kid,” Baker mentioned. “He acted like a kid. He was fun. He acted like a kid everywhere but on the mound.”
Valenzuela died on Tuesday, the Dodgers introduced. He was once 63 years timeless. The person who sparked “FernandoMania” in 1981 is long gone. By way of that summer season, he’d captivated a town and a marketplace that hasn’t been the similar since.
Dusty Baker and Fernando Valenzuela have been pals from the beginning and solid a long lasting bond. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Nowadays)
Valenzuela was once now not the primary Mexican celebrity and may not be the latter, however there’ll best be one Fernando. It was once over one summer season, as a 20-year-old, that a complete town were given to grasp the soft-spoken left-hander on a first-name foundation that has echoed ever since.
“Everywhere we went — it wasn’t only the Dodgers — where we went, he packed the stadium,” Baker mentioned. “And he packed the stadium, especially with the Latin American people from all over, all over the world. He made everybody, especially Latin Americans, made them proud.”
Valenzuela’s stardom fueled a cultural shift in Los Angeles by means of reinvigorating a Mexican American people broken by means of the franchise’s advance to the branch and displacement of households at Chavez Ravine to develop the now-storied ballpark.
Valenzuela debuted in 1980 to minute fanfare, turning in 10 scoreless appearances. His first get started of 1981 got here on Opening Presen, however best then Jerry Reuss injured his calf. Valenzuela had already thrown his bullpen consultation at the eve of Opening Presen when Dodgers supervisor Tommy Lasorda knowledgeable him he would snatch the baseball.
The left-hander answered by means of throwing a five-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros.
“Fernando — he was The Man as a kid,” Baker mentioned.
“Good thing we won that game,” Valenzuela recalled with a laugh latter 12 months.
He gained each and every of his first 8 begins — all entire video games.
Valenzuela was once estranged from the membership into depart over lingering resentment from the Dodgers’ choice to let go him in 1991, simply prior to his $2.55-million promise would have grow to be assured. He returned to the group as a Spanish-language broadcaster in 2003 and the Dodgers retired his Refuse. 34 in August 2023 (the franchise waived its longstanding coverage on now not doing so for gamers now not within the Corridor of Status).
But when Valenzuela’s dating with the Dodgers was once sophisticated, his dating with town and its population isn’t. His jersey rest a number of the maximum usual at a ballpark the place crowds incessantly chanted his call. The pitching mound at Dodger Stadium all the time felt just like the tallest playground on the planet when the 5-foot-11 left-hander was once status on supremacy.
He was once simply what Los Angeles, and the Dodgers, wanted.
“He came like an angel to us at the time we needed him the most,” Baker mentioned.
Baker was once Valenzuela’s teammate from 1980 to 1983 and so they evolved a bond. He took serve of him. Baker took Valenzuela out to dinners, as Felipe Alou and Hank Aaron did for him as a tender Atlanta Courageous. When Baker returned to Dodger Stadium this August as a part of a bobblehead night time and spoke with Valenzuela, who by means of later had proven indicators of his infection and misplaced weight, Baker took week to be along with his former teammate.
The left-hander who pitched like a person, Baker mentioned, was once all the time nonetheless a boy. He recalled a stretch all through Valenzuela’s top: Andre Dawson had slugged a solo house leave now Valenzuela at Dodger Stadium in Might 1981, a game-tying shot all through an entire tournament victory as Pedro Guerrero collision a walk-off house run a half-inning nearest. When Valenzuela confronted Dawson’s Montreal Expos that October in a winner-take-all Sport 5 within the Nationwide League Championship Form, he saved Dawson 0-for-4 and struck him out — all of the life outlining the very layout to Baker that he had thrown Dawson previous within the season.
“Fernando was smart. I mean, this cat, he was like a man, pitched like a man, but he was a young, young boy,” Baker mentioned.
Valenzuela tossed 8 shutouts in 25 begins, successful a no brainer Rookie of the Month award to grant as an aspect dish to a Cy Younger Award.
The Dodgers, all the time at the doorstep, would go back to the International Form in opposition to the Unused York Yankees in 1981 and win. There hadn’t been a Fall Vintage assembly of the 2 iconic franchises since — till now. Valenzuela kicked the bucket simply 3 days prior to Sport 1 starts at Dodger Stadium.
(Govern photograph from 1985: Rick Stewart / Getty Photographs)
