Fernando Valenzuela the kid from Mexico who brought Fernandomania to Los Angeles has passed away at the age of 63. The Dodgers announced his passing Tuesday night. Valenzuela was discovered by Mike Brito, a Dodger scout. He was from Navajoa Mexico. Valenzuela was called up late in the 1980 season and pitched in 10 games. He was 2-0 with a save. In 1981, he made the team out of spring training. When Jerry Reuss was unable to make his opening day start, Valenzuela stepped in and threw a shutout against the Astros.
That was just the beginning of an amazing year. His next outing he beat the Giants 7-1. Four days later he got his 3rd win, a 2-0 blanking of the Padres. On April 22nd, he shut out the Astros again, this time 1-0. Word of the young lefty was getting around. He showed unusual poise for such a young player. He beat former Dodger Don Sutton in that 1-0 game. His next outing was against the Giants and this time he shut them out 5-0. His fourth shutout in 5 decisions.
Now when he pitched at Dodger Stadium, you could expect huge crowds. Fernandomania was officially on its way. On May 3rd, he beat Montreal in 10 innings, 6-1. His 6th win in a row. On May the 8th, he shut out the Mets and Mike Scott 1-0. On May 14th at Dodger Stadium, he beat Montreal 3-2 on a walk off win from a homer by Pedro Guererro in the 9th with no out. 53,906 folks watched his 8th win in a row. Best start by a Dodger rookie pitcher in their history.
On May 18th, the Phillies turned the tables, and he lost by a 4-0 score. His next decision on May 28th was also a loss, this time to Atlanta and Gaylord Perry, 9-4. He got back in the win column, beating the Braves 5-2 on June 1st. He would lose his next two decisions, 11-5 to the Cubs, and 2-1 to the Cardinals and then baseball shut down for the next 59 days with the player’s strike. Valenzuela was 9-4 at the time.
Play resumed on August 10th. Fernando did not have his first decision of the second half until August 22nd when he got his 10th win, a 3-2 decision over the Cardinals in St. Louis. On the 27th, he shut out the Cubs, 6-0 at Dodger Stadium. It was his 6th shut out of the year and his 11th win. On September 6th, he shut out the Cardinals, 5-0 at Dodger Stadium in front of 46,780. Fans were still a little POed at the players. He got his 13th win of the year, and his 8th shut out against the Braves in Atlanta on September 17th. It was his last win of the year. He lost his next three decisions to the Giants, Astros and Padres. He finished the year 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA. He would become the only pitcher ever to win the Cy Young Award and the Rookie of the Year in the same season. In the Dodgers run to the championship that year, he was 3-1. His only loss was to the Expos in the NLCS. I was at that game; he lost 3-0 to Ray Burris.
For the next six seasons he was the Ace of the Dodger staff. He won 21 games in 1986. And he threw a no hitter in June of 1990 at Dodger Stadium. He was an All Star six times and won 2 silver slugger awards. He had shoulder issues which affected him starting in 1987. He was simply not the same pitcher after that. He did earn a second ring as a member of the 1988 team. After leaving the Dodgers in 1990, he pitched for the Angels, Orioles, Phillies, Padres and Cardinals.
After retiring, he pitched on and off in the Mexican League. He joined the Dodgers Spanish language broadcast team in 2003. The Dodgers stepped away from tradition and retired his #34 last August 2023. Only he and Jim Gilliam have been honored that way. He will be missed by Dodger fans everywhere.  His career record as a Dodger was 141-116. He struck out 1759 batters and had 107 complete games and 29 of them were shutouts. As Vin once said, “If you have a sombrero, toss it to the sky.” RIP Fernando Valenzuela. 
Sad day for Dodger fans. Win the series for El Toro!
Very sad day, indeed.
He will always be one of the most popular players to ever wear a Dodger uniform.
RIP Fernando.
Dodgers announced they will go with Flaherty Game 1 and Yoshi Game 2. Good decision IMHO.
Should enalbe them to go 2 games each for Yoshi, JF and Walker. Only one bullpen game needed.
Plus they are saying Vesia and Bazoooka trending in the right direction. What a lift that would be for our pen.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am totally stunned and very saddened.
Rest In Peace El Toro. You will never be forgotten.
Although he did not have Hall of Fame numbers, I always felt that someday he might make it in as a person who had a lasting impact on the game. Fernandomania was a once in a lifetime phenomenon. He was the catalyst who brought so many Hispanic fans to the game and the Dodgers. I still think at some point, he will be in the Hall as either a broadcaster, or cultural icon.
I watched the obituary on MLB Network. A lot of clips from 1981.
I was in the stands in 1980 when Fernando first pitched as a Dodger. What a legend! He was the driving force behind bringing the Latino community into Dodger Stadium. We will miss you El Toro!
What is wrong with this K Lin person? Dude get a grip.
Nobody is glossing over Fernando’s death. But ALSO, the World Series will NOT be postponed because of it.
Everyone old enough has Fernando memories. In perusing his stats this morning a few extraordinary things leap from the stat sheet. His finishing stats are good but not remarkable – 3.54 ER, 104 ERA+, .531 winning %. 17 years, 6 time All Star but none after the age of 25.
But, before age 25? Holy smokes. 11 complete games and 8 shutouts as a 20 year old. Another 18 complete games as a 21 year old. 113 complete games and 31 shutouts in his career. By comparison, in the same number of years, 17, first ballot Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw has 25 complete games and 15 shutouts. Fernando had more complete games and half the shutouts by age 21 than Kershaw has in his career.
Those of us who witnessed this phenomenon will obviously never forget Fernando Mania. RIP 34.
I was very surprised and shocked to read of Fernando’s passing this morning. I had to read it twice. I had no idea he was so ill.
He certainly brought a lot of excitement and memorable moments to Dodger fans. He helped galvanize the Latino community to the Dodgers. It’s something that continues to this day.
The last couple of years he was pitching for the Dodgers I felt that Tommy Lasorda really took advantage of Fernando. Tommy left him in many games where Fernando was gassed and should have been removed from the game. This is what might have caused his shoulder issues and shorten Fernando’s Dodger career.
RIP Fernando.
Longenhagen was on Effectively Wild in place of Ben Lindbergh.
Spoke about the Fall League. A lot on Painter, a fun bit on Xavier Isaac, a bit on team strategy (WRT who is sent.)
Spoke about Hope:
His bulking up, how he has retained his speed. Needs work on contact tool and in defense (this was known)
Interesting story from my childhood about Fernando. I was lucky enough to see him pitch once or twice during his last year as a Dodger. I was 10 years old. During that year 1990, back in those days my Uncle and I used to go to around 15-20 games per year. At one point he had season tickets he shared with his friend (who was a Tigers fan for some reason) which were right behind the Dodgers dugout. Excellent seats.
My Uncle’s legacy of seeing important Dodger games is unparalleled. My Uncle’s very first game as a 10-year old Dodger fan was Koufax’s no-hitter against the Mets in 1962. He ended up seeing 4 no-hitters in person at Dodger Stadium…Koufax in 62 vs, the Mets, Koufax’s perfect game in 65, Bill Singer’s no-no in 71 and Kevin Gross in 1992. Yes he was a 13-year old paper boy that saved his money to go see a game in the left field pavillions on September 9, 1965. You all know what happened that night. He also sat in the left field pavillions during game 5 of the 1981 World Series against the Yanks, the game that Ron Cey got beaned in the head by Goose Gossage, I remember him telling me you could hear the crack of the ball hitting his batting helmet, him going down and everyone thinking he was dead. He told me DS went silent.
So on June 29, 1990 my Uncle had tickets to the game that night against the Cardinals. But I was sick as a dog. I had a fever, vomiting, chills. I don’t think I’ve ever been as sick as I was that day. My Uncle called me…”hey Scotty, how you feeling, I’ve got tickets to go for tonight’s game. I’m pretty sure Fernando is pitching. You wanna go tonight”?
I thought of it. But I was just too ill to go. I told him thanks, but I couldn’t. My Uncle “that’s ok, we’ll go on another day, hopefully we don’t miss a no-hitter or something”.
And welp……I could have gone to Fernando’s no-hitter.
It’s almost not possible to put into words what a huge loss this is for the Dodgers organization, for Los Angeles, and most importantly, for Fernando’s family. His legacy is unmatched, and we will all miss him horribly.
“If you have a Sombrero….throw it to the sky”
Fernando was one of my all time favorites.
At the end of play on October 2, 1980, the Houston Astros led the Los Angeles Dodgers by three games, with three games left to play for each team.
The teams would face off at Dodger Stadium for what promised to be a dramatic series. All Houston had to do was win one game. They didn’t.
I wanted Fernando to start the one game playoff instead of Goltz.
I like to read other commentaries, and then the comments. MLBTR had a nice tribute to Fernando, some of the comments were excellent memories:
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The Athletic had a nice article on Dusty Baker’s relationship with Fernando (Fabian Ardaya). Paywall
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5865761/2024/10/23/dodgers-fernando-valenzuela-death-dusty-baker/?source=thewindup_newsletter&campaign=11421975&userId=343446
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Mark’s tribute to Fernando on LADT was also excellent.
Gave it a go in here guys. 99% of you are great. Jeff isn’t.
Let’s see how many more end up leaving because of him. Guessing he is in his 20s. Major maturity issues.
Good luck to our Dodgers.
Peace!
Saddened to hear of the passing of Fernando. Too many of my sports heroes are passing and it makes me aware of my own mortality. But I was shocked to see him pass at 63. I know he looked frail when I saw him this summer but I wasn’t unprepared for this.
I don’t live in LA and didn’t live there during the peak of Fernandomania. But I’m going to make an observation that might be far out. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Fernando was a 1980’s version of Jackie Robinson to Hispanic fans. He broke down barriers.
My recollection is that the Mexican community held a serious grudge and was angry over the building of Chavez Ravine and the displacement of Latinos in that location.
And Fernando brought them to the Dodgers. He was the catalyst for the huge Hispanic fan base that follows the Dodgers today. I see no other fan base with the number of Latinos that the Dodgers enjoy.
Thanks Fernando for that and for your amazing character, career as a player, broadcaster, family-man and role model for so many. RIP.
Need to put a statue of Fernando and his classic wind-up on the plaza at Dodger Stadium.
No one impacted the game as much as Jackie Robinson. Fernando in my mind had the second biggest impact. What he did for the Latino fan base all over baseball can’t be measured. Not only the fans but many more kids started playing baseball because of Fernando. Though his impact as a player was short lived, the impact as a man and the game of baseball is immeasurably. RIP